Khanyisa Mayo: Cape Town’s one-man show
South African centre forward Khanyisa Mayo is by far the most important player for his team in the entire DStv Premiership. Mayo’s goals have dragged Cape Town City in the race for a top-3 finish. Can Khanyisa Mayo keep on delivering for his team?
Khanyisa Mayo: Who is he and his career in numbers?
Born on 27 August 1998 the 25-year-old Khanyisa Mayo is a product of the SuperSport United youth system. However, he made his senior debut back in 2018, at age 20, while out on loan at Ubuntu.
Khanyisa Mayo – the early years
Khanyisa Mayo grew up in the ranks of SuperSport and even represented South Africa at U17 and U20 levels while still at the club. He was never given a chance in the first team though.
That’s why in the summer of 2018 Khanyisa Mayo left SuperSport officially and signed his first professional contract with Royal Eagles. Mayo spent 18 months at the club and despite not playing that much he continued his development and moved to play for South Africa’s U23s with a success.
Khanyisa Mayo – the breakthrough season
Seeking more time and exposure in January 2020 Khanyisa Mayo moved to Richards Bay. Both Royal Eagles and Richards Bay played in the second tier of South African football. Mayo’s star finally started rising during the 2020/21 season. He led Richards Bay to the promotion play-offs. Also, became their top goalscorer in the Nedbank Cup.
Khanyisa Mayo – joining the big stage
His efforts during this one full season with Richards Bay attracted attention. As a result, in the summer of 2021, Khanyisa Mayo signed with his current club Cape Town City. This way in the 2021/22 season the 23-year-old back then striker made his first serious impact on South Africa’s top-flight football.
In his first year at the club, Mayo started only once in the first 16 rounds of the league campaign. However, around Christmas time in 2021, he suddenly became a regular and was constantly picked in the main 11 for the rest of the season. Khanyisa Mayo finished this first season at the top flight with 5 goals and 2 assists in 1507 minutes of football. In early 2022 Mayo also made his debut for South Africa’s men’s national team.
Then in 2022/23 Khanyisa Mayo’s true star rose proper. He played in 27 of the 30 league games for Cape Town and missed 3 matches injured. In those, the pushy centre forward scored 12 goals. That year Mayo also made his debuts in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup.
However, this seems to be only the start for Khanyisa Mayo as so far in 2023/24 he’s doing even better.
Khanyisa Mayo: Current season stats
Khanyisa Mayo has the highest “goal ratio” of any player in the entire DStv Premiership so far this current season. Mayo has scored 9 of Cape Town’s 22 league goals so far, this is 40.9% of all their league goals. He achieved that in just 20 league appearances and almost every time Mayo steps on the pitch for his team, he’s the focal point of the attack.
His ability to be effective in one of the weaker teams when it comes to attacking efficiency and chance creation shows that in a team with a stronger supporting cast, Khanyisa Mayo could easily be a 20-goal-a-season striker.
Can Mayo maintain that pace and finish the 2023/24 season with the highest “goal ratio” in the league? Will teams from Europe come asking for him this summer?