• Peter Shalulile used to be an injury-prone, scrawny winger who finished his first ever season in the top-flight of SA football with just one league goal.
• Now, he is one of Africa’s most potent strikers who has three topflight golden boots and has scored more than 100 goals.
• Some of the influential figures in his career growth explained how the Namibian, who wants to win the Ballon d’Or, achieved that.
• For more Afcon news, visit News24’s Africa Cup of Nations Zone.

Owen da Gama remembers the ridicule vividly, even though he and Highlands Park are now having the last laugh. 

Da Gama and Highlands Park, who are now campaigning in the amateur ranks after selling their premier division status to TS Galaxy in 2020, were taunted for their valuation of Peter Shalulile at R30 million four years ago. 

Agents and even Shalulile himself thought that the club was prizing the striker out of the market as he had attracted interest from the country’s top teams.  

“People thought we were crazy, but look at him now,” said Da Gama. “R30 million might even have been cheap. Peter thought it was a joke. He is a very, very humble boy. 

“We arrived at that valuation by looking at the value he brings and how much strikers are going for in Europe. You find mediocre strikers without good records, but because they had one good season, they go for £40 million to £50 million, and then I said that if a team from overseas can get this boy – he would be a steal for them at R30 million.” 

According to Transfermarkt – a German-based website that tracks footballers’ transfers, statistics and estimates their market value – Shalulile is currently worth just over R45 million. It’s a figure that will rise if he continues to shine with Namibia at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) and Mamelodi Sundowns when domestic football returns in February.  

The 30-year-old will come up against familiar foes on Sunday when he captains the Brave Warriors against the Sundowns’ dominated Bafana Bafana in the second match of their Afcon group stage campaign. Shalulile’s Namibia registered their first-ever win in the tournament when they beat Tunisia 1-0, while Bafana lost 2-0 to Mali.  

The scrawny winger that Da Gama crossed paths with for the first time in 2017 when he was appointed coach of Highlands Park is now an imposing figure and one of the most potent strikers on the continent. 

“For me, his explosiveness, movement, aerial prowess and positioning made me realise that this guy is not a creator, wingers are creators. He is a finisher. He has to be there (in and around the box), so I converted him to a striker,” said Da Gama, a formidable striker in his playing days whose scoring prowess took him to Belgium, Ireland and Moroka Swallows during their hey days. 

Before working with Da Gama, Shalulile scored just one goal in 14 matches in his premier division debut season in the 2016/2017 campaign. 

READ| Broos believes Bafana can dodge a ‘very bad situation’ in Afcon clash with Namibia

As a striker, now working with a coach who understands the intricacies of the position, Shalulile scooped the first division’s golden boot in the 2017/2018 season – sharing the award with Mwape Musonda, but more importantly, those goals fired Highlands Park back to the elite league. 

“There was a time when Peter was missing a lot of goals,” said Da Gama. 

“When a striker is doing that, you expect the coaches to be anxious because they keep missing. Peter would miss one-on-ones, but I just said to him, ‘Peter, one day you are going to score lots of goals, my boy.’ I would rather have a striker that’s missing goals, than one who isn’t even trying. The mere fact that he was missing means he was getting into the right position, we just had to work on the finishing.”

Da Gama showed Shalulile videos of some of the best strikers in the world, like Newcastle legend Alan Shearer, Ivoirian stalwart Didier Drogba, and Shalulile’s hero – the record top goalscorer at Afcon – Samuel Eto’o Fils. 

“We were looking at their movements and how they run off the ball, how they hold up and attack the ball. We really put in a lot of work,” Da Gama said.

The making of a prolific finisher  

South Africans, and even some Namibians, were first introduced to a 21-year-old Shalulile in the 2015 Cosafa Cup hosted in North West, with matches played at Phokeng and Moruleng. The Brave Warriors won the tournament, their first and only international title. 

“He was the surprise package at Cosafa,” said Ricardo Mannetti, who coached that successful Namibian side, and is now one of the analysts at the Afcon in Ivory Coast. 

“I was not surprised by what he achieved because I knew his potential. I expected that of him. The Namibians were surprised because most of them didn’t know him. Who is this young boy? Where did he come from? They asked themselves. He was an unknown at international level. I introduced him, and everyone fell in love with him. The rest is history.” 

Allan Freese was among those who were watching that Cosafa Cup looking for talent. He recommended Shalulile to Larry Brookstone, who was one of the owners of the Lions of the North. Brookstone signed him, joining the club from Namibia’s Tura Magic – whom Shalulile had helped gain promotion to the premier division in his homeland in 2011. 

“He is a student of the game,” said Mannetti.

“He always wants to improve. He wants to improve his left foot, his heading ability, and his fitness. He is always looking to improve every aspect of the game.

“He can run the whole day, but he still wants to improve that. He doesn’t dwell too much about what he has achieved in the past, he is always looking into the future, trying to see ways his game can be better.” 

Sundowns are a perfect fit for the Namibian, with the club driven by a desire to be better than they were yesterday, instead of being fixated with what they have achieved. At Sundowns, he took his game to another level.

In April last year, he joined an illustrious list of players who have scored 100 goals in the Premier Soccer League era. That small group features Bradley Grobler, Mabhuti Khenyeza, Daniel Mudau, Tico-Tico Bucuane, Collins Mbesuma and Siyabonga Nomvethe, who is the all-time top scorer with 123 goals.

Shalulile is 12 goals away from Nomvethe’s record, with his 111 goals making him the most prolific striker in Sundowns’ history in the PSL era. But he still has some way to go before he becines the Brazilians’ top scorer of all-time.

Mudau holds that record with 172 goals, with 110 of those goals coming in the PSL-era while the other 62 were scored before 1996. But before Shalulile could be mentioned among scoring royalty, he had to become fitter.

“Peter was injury prone, so the other person who really worked with him and helped him get to this level is Simone Conley,” said Da Gama. 

“She worked a lot with him on his strength, speed, endurance and agility. She activated muscles that had never been activated on Shalulile. She did an amazing job from a physical perspective.”

Conley was Highlands’ biokineticist and fitness trainer. She now does that job for the women’s team of Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad – which became a global brand when it signed French stars Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante along with Fabinho and Jota.  

“Peter comes from humble beginnings, that’s what built his character, his attitude and work ethic,” Conley said, speaking from Jeddah. 

“There was a time where Peter was not playing, sitting on the bench and it gradually progressed to him playing every second game because he missed many chances. He put in the hard work, dedication and extra hours. He asked the questions that needed to be asked. His character is something out of the ordinary when it comes to a professional footballer.”

Conley believes the disappointment of being relegated in only his first season in the premier division toughened Shalulile mentally. Since then, he has become an African champion with Sundowns – playing a starring role in the club’s African Football League win.  

“I am not surprised with where he is, it was always evident that Peter would achieve great things,” she said. 

“What is amazing about Shalulile is his consistency. That’s what other good and great players lack, the consistency of putting in the same performance season after season, year after year. That is not an easy thing to do, but he has been able to do it because of his attitude, dedication and work ethic.”

Shalulile’s accolades include two league titles and three Lesley Manyathela Golden Boots. The last of those golden boots came in the 2021/2022 season after he netted 23 goals, two goals shy of matching Mbesuma’s record. 

“One thing that drives me is the quest to win the Ballon d’Or Award,” Shalulile told Mamelodi Sundowns Magazine. 

“I keep telling people that it is possible to win that award. I am not one to shy away from challenges, because the people who are winning them are humans, therefore if they can win it, I can also clinch it someday.

“Whenever I wake up, the quest to win is what keeps me going. I keep saying that I am not a complete player and that is why I have said before that South Africa is yet to see the best of me.”

If you’re laughing at that dream, remember that the last time people laughed at an outrageous assessment of Shalulile, he not only realised but also surpassed.