Buthelezi joined Pirates a fortnight ago from TS Galaxy becoming one of the four signings the club has unveiled going into the 2023/24 campaign.

Sono signed Buthelezi in 2018 when the then-goalkeeper coach of Jomo Cosmos, Avril Phali convinced Sono to sign the player.

"Melusi will do well at Pirates because he comes from good hands at Cosmos, where he worked very well with Avril, in fact, Avril is the one who said we must sign him when he came to our training as an unknown young boy without any invite and what will also make him succeed at Pirates is that he had teachable spirit and he has already gained enough experience at TS Galaxy and at Bafana Bafana as well," Sono said.

Meanwhile, Phali who also played for Pirates before retiring, has backed his protégé to excel at the Buccaneers as well, saying what he just needs is that first chance to showcase his talent.

He never played for development at Cosmos, he went straight into the first team and I remember the first thing I told Bra J [Sono] was that the boy’s height was good enough to make a good keeper, we signed him on the spot after a few minutes of him training with us and we just polished him here and there and that's how he started playing in the NFD," Phali added.

Buthelezi is currently with the Sea Robbers for their first part of pre-season camp in Rustenburg before the club departs for Spain for the second part of pre-season camp next week.