Nkosinathi Sibisi is like a kid in a candy store at Orlando Pirates.

The Bafana Bafana defender received offers to play elsewhere when he left Golden Arrows during the off-season, but chose to join the Buccaneers, a club he has supported since he was a boy.

Sibisi has had a good start to his Pirates career, featuring in all eight opening matches in all competitions, where he played with Olisa Ndah, Tapelo Xoki or Innocent Maela.

“For me, once and always,” he said about Pirates.

“You can even phone my family, they will tell you that from a young age I have always supported Pirates. The other day I was reflecting on the moment in 2011 when Pirates won the treble and I recalled the goal that was scored by Isaac Chansa.

“Together with my friends, we were over the moon. Little did I know that one day I will be here at the club. They (friends) remind me of those days and it really shows how far I have come.

“It has been quite a ride and I am really happy to be here. I came here, played the first game and got the man-of-the-match, and I scored in my second game.

“It doesn’t matter who I am playing with. As you have seen, I have played with Ndah, Maela, Xoki. It doesn’t matter who is there, as long as the person next to me is doing their job.

“Coming to a big team, recognition is bound to happen. It is much bigger and I appreciate that because I come from a small location in eMpophomeni (near Howick in KwaZulu-Natal). I am sure that most you don’t know it.

“It is an honour to be here and I am really privileged, and I hope my performances will make the supporters and the club happy.”

Having turned professional at Arrows, Sibisi faced Pirates on many occasions.  

“Whenever I got to the ground as an Arrows player, I had to do the job, regardless of who I was playing against. To be a winner, you must have the mentality that you want to win and I think Pirates recognised that this one can be a part of us.”

Asked about his seamless transition to the club, Sibisi said people such as assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi assisted him.

“I haven’t changed my way of doing things. It's the people around me who have helped me. There are people here at Pirates who I have played with before and also at the national team.

“Some of the players, like Siphesihle Ndlovu and Bandile Shandu, we come from the same province, KZN, and they made it easy for me to settle in. I can’t forget coach Mandla because he was the first person to interact with me when I arrived. So it helped a lot to have such people close to me.”

Sibisi added that he enjoys working with coach Jose Riveiro.

“He is a good coach, he wants the best from us, and I think the way we play and the way we showcase our stuff, we will do well under him.”