Football
Leonard Solms, Special to ESPN 3y

Atletico Madrid's Thembi Kgatlana hopes for stability with 'dream' club

South Africa striker Thembi Kgatlana has a more diverse overseas club resumè than anyone on her national team, but she hopes that the series of short contracts are at an end and that she will find a long-term home with Atletico Madrid.

Kgatlana signed for the Primera Iberdrola giants from SD Eibar in July, after scoring in double digits for a side that would have struggled even more without her, as they finished 14th out of 18 in the league.

Kgatlana, who signed a three-year deal with Atleti, told ESPN that she enjoyed her time with Eibar, as the style in Spain suits her play, but that she always knew a bigger club was on the horizon.

The 25-year-old forward said: "When I got the numbers that I got with Eibar, I knew that I was not going to stay, because my contract was for one year.

"I knew that someone was going to come looking for me, but I didn't think [the club] would be as big as Atlético.

"These are the things that you dream about -- I wanted to go to a big team, but how do you get there? You have to perform. I think my performances for Eibar over the past season put me in a better position for a club like Atlético to come get me."

She added: "They're serious about women's football and they want to invest in it.

"For the longest time in their history, they were dominating the Spanish women's league until Barcelona came to invest better and get better players to compete for the league.

"Atleti now wants to bring a team that's going to challenge and be at the top for this season."

Atleti is the latest in a long line of northern hemisphere sides to sign the 2018 CAF Women's Player of the Year. She was one of the first South Africans to play in the National Women's Soccer League [NWSL], with the Houston Dash, and also featured for Beijing BG Phoenix in China.

But it was her ill-fated stint with Benfica in Portugal that eventually led her to Spain, after she cut short her contract in Lisbon due to a pay dispute.

Kgatlana joined Benfica in January 2020 amid much fanfare. She was the first woman to be handed the number 11 jersey made famous by club icons António Simões and Rui Costa, but her dreams came crashing down with the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 29 May, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) used this as justification for proposing a controversial salary cap for its women's top-flight championship, but seemingly no such cap for the men's league.

Although the federation ultimately backtracked, Benfica still asked Kgatlana to take a pay cut, she says, which she refused to do.

Kgatlana said: "I felt it was unfair [because] already, the men had higher salaries. For them not to cut and for us to cut didn't make sense.

"At that point, I had an option, because they had given me an ultimatum: Either you cut your salary and stay [or you leave]. I thought, 'I'm not going to cut my salary. I have a family to look after and at the end of the day, I want to be happy.'

"Why is it that women have to cut their salaries when men already have so much in their earnings? Why are we the only ones who have to cut? If one man could cut his salary, he could pay the whole female team for a whole year.

"So, I thought: 'It's ok. You can keep your money. I'll go to a place where I know I'll play football; I'll express myself and get a lot of opportunities.'

"Eibar was that opportunity I was looking for, because the style of Eibar suited me, hence I was able to get the numbers that I got throughout the season."

With the prestige of the FA Women's Super League in the UK growing with each season, attracting international star like Alex Morgan, Christen Press, and Nadia Nadim, it's reasonable to think Kgatlana is eyeing England too.

But she says that while she has outward ambitions, her goals tend to focus on her own personal development rather than the recognition of the club name on her jersey.

"I have goals, but I think my goals are more personal to me. Every team I've gone to, there's been a goal that I've achieved," she said.

"When I went to China, my goal was to get out of my comfort zone, because I knew that it wasn't going to be comfortable. Coming to Europe, I knew that I had to step up to play against the best.

"I do have goals to go to other leagues, but for now, I am happy in Spain. Everything else that is going to come, I am sure it will come at its right time.

"I don't want to rush and say: 'I'm gonna go here, I wanna do this, I wanna do that,' and then at the end of my career, I haven't done that.

"I'm embracing every opportunity that I get, and spending the time that I get with the teams that I get to play for."

Atleti kick off their season, against Rayo Vallecano, on Sept. 4, and their first local derby of the season, against Real Madrid, will take place on Sept. 12.

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