Bafana Bafana head coach, Stuart Baxter explained why he chose to include Kermit Erasmus in his provisional Africa Cup Of Nations squad. 

Baxter named his AFCON squad yesterday, where he is set to reduce the list to 23 players once its time for the South African national team to jet off to Egypt next month. 

A noticeable new inclusion to the Bafana setup, was Erasmus, this after many in the football fraternity felt that he was hard done by when he was excluded from the previous squad who faced Libya last year. 

Read more: 6 New Faces At AFCON

Speaking to the media yesterday, Baxter explained his decision to include the player in his squad this time around.

“Kermit is one of the players that has been around us, we chose not to include him in previous camps because I always felt that it was too quick. I had a long conversation with Benni McCarthy during the last camp, where I explained to Benni that I thought he done a good job with Kermit, putting his arm around him, making him feel important again and bringing him back in to the fold,” he said.

“I also said to Benni and he agreed with me that I couldn’t guarantee Kermit that place in Bafana and I thought when he came back that he should be really well equipped and I think that he understands the situation now because he’s worked hard during the season.

“We’ve got a nice combination with Lebo Mothiba and Percy Tau and what we are looking at is profiling our players, so Kermit can play both of those roles, he can play a nine and a shadow striker, and that is why Lars Veldwijk is also a nine,” the Englishman added.