Siphelele Luthuli says his dream is to win the Midfielder of the Season award with Bloemfontein Celtic.
The 26-year-old thought his dream of top-flight football in South Africa was over when he was relegated with the University of Pretoria in 2015.
He has since played for Highlands Park and Ubuntu Cape Town, but is enjoying the current campaign, where he has made 14 Premiership appearances, as well as four in the MTN8 as Celtic made it to the final, alongside one game in the Nedbank Cup.
Luthuli told the Sowetan: "As you know I made my top flight debut at AmaTuks in 2015 and after that we were relegated. I got lost in the system. I had good seasons in the first division but not even a single Premiership team noticed that...my dream was always to return to the Premiership.
"When seasons went by in the second-tier I started to despair, telling myself I will play in the NFD until I retire. It wasn't easy…I heard there were open trials at Celtic and I went there. I scored a lot of goals and racked up a few assists, that’s how they selected me. It's still the proudest moment of my life."
Luthuli, who scored six goals and created a further two last season, added: "I want to win the Midfielder of the Season [award]. That has been my dream from the start of the season. I know I must do more and I have challenged myself to work harder going forward."
