A mixture of budget constraints and more belief in academy graduates could lead to several young players breaking into top-flight football this season, according to SuperSport United coach Kaitano Tembo.
He is himself gambling with a few of the Matsatsantsa bright prospects like Luke Fleurs, Sipho Mbule, Jammie Webber and the now more established Teboho Mokoena.
Check out the gallery above to see more of the young players to watch this season!
“I think I can only speak for us, and we have been working on bringing in these youngsters for the past two seasons,” he told the Siya crew.
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“We feel that this is probably the right time for us to give them more exposure and game-time. If you have a lot of young players, they need to know that they will get an opportunity to play if they work hard and do well.”
Last season, Kaizer Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp sent veteran fullback Godfrey Walusimbi packing in favour of young Happy Mashiane (21), who was unfortunate to suffer an injury early in his Amakhosi senior team career.
The German also promoted Njabulo Blom (19) and Nkosingiphile Ngcobo (19).
“It also has to do with the tight budgets across – you can’t just go out there and buy the players you want to. You’ve got to try and coach now. The youngsters need to be coached, you can’t just tell them to go out there and do it,” said Tembo.
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