Bafana Bafana head coach, Stuart Baxter had some great words to say about Lebogang Phiri despite not selecting him in his provisional Africa Cup of Nations squad.
Baxter named his provisional squad yesterday, where he is set to reduce the list to 23 players by the time they're ready to jet off to Egypt next month.
As expected, there were many questions surrounding Baxter's current selection, with the football fraternity once again questioning the EA Guingamp midfielder's exclusion from the setup.
However, Baxter maintained that leaving Phiri out was only due to not enough space for him in that position currently.
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"Lebo was in the picture all the time, he's one of the best professionals that we have, he is a fantastic ambassador for our football abroad, he never puts a foot wrong, when I speak to his club, they love him to bits.
"So, of course he is always in the mix but we've got in that department the most talented players, we've got Kamo, we've got Bongani and we've got the home-based players, people like that are always in your thoughts," Baxter explained to the media.
"Sometimes you just can't get them all in, I would love to have an extra place and bring Lebo Phiri because he deserves it.
"He works hard, great attitude. I sent him a message before I made the announcement, I tried to call him and couldn't get a hold of him, so he called me back and I said to him, look you didn't make it and he went on this soliloquy saying – coach, don't worry about me, I will keep working, keep pushing and I will try to force your hand and make sure that my hand is up for the next camp and all the best.
"So he's like that, I don't know whether I should select him or adopt him," Baxter said.
