Teko Modise is not pleased with the rate at which the Premier Soccer League produces youngsters as he urges clubs to introduce more teenagers into senior teams.
Orlando Pirates’ Relebohile Mofokeng is probably the flagbearer of youngsters in the PSL, complimenting his nickname of ‘President of the 2000s’, as the 19-year-old is a major part of the fabric that makes up Jose Riveiro’s Buccaneers outfit.
Kaizer Chiefs trio Mfundo Vilakazi, Samkelo Zwane, and Mduduzi Shabalala are all youngsters who were promoted from Amakhosi’s youth structures. SuperSport United had Shandre Campbell who has since been sold to Belgian side Club Brugge.
There are other youngsters in the PSL such as Siyabonga Mabena and Antonio van Wyk, but Hollywoodbets Brand Ambassador Modise is not impressed with the limited list.
"Now we have players who have played one game or 15 minutes and he is being compared to Brian Baloyi or they say he is the next Benni McCarthy."
“I am still a student of the game because I watch football more than I watch movies. I am a football guy, through and through. When I used to watch guys like Brian Baloyi, I used to be that guy who could name the first 11 because it was that obvious. There were so many,” Modise said on Nedbank Uncovered.
“If there is one thing that I took from that era is that there were too many good players. Each and every team had three or four players who were very good. The unfortunate part is that they were not in the national team because Brian is there. Then came the era of Jabu Mahlangu and Steve Lekoelea; it was still the same.
“Then came our era where there were players like Sphiwe Tshabalala, Reneilwe Letsholonyane, and you could count players who were very good in the PSL, but then it started dying down. Then I started asking my ‘is this the quality of the game in South Africa that is dying down, or maybe it is the lack of finding the right players to be able to continue this journey.
In order to unearth talent, coaches need to nurture and groom players from a tender age, Modise believes. But what’s more important is to keep young players grounded and avoid overhyping them because that may be detrimental to their progress, Modise reckons.
“We used to wait in line to be profiled because I can’t be profiled before Steven Pienaar. I need to have five or six good games in the national team to be profiled. What that does is, it gives you that hunger to keep going.
“We have been saying ‘the next Benni McCarthy’ for 20 years and we will never have one. But because we are starving of anything great… anything that’s why anything that slides, we grab it.
Of late, the kasi flavour phenomenon has been a contentious subject, with the opinion largely divided on whether players should be afforded the room to elaborate their skills. Modise, a dribbling wizard in his heyday, advocates for a constructive display of skill.
“We need to let these youngsters play with freedom and enjoy because there is going to be a time where freedom will be done. At 17 or 18 years old, let them enjoy and make mistakes then.
“But we need more of those youngsters to come through. That’s why we used to have the national Under-23 team that was good but now we don’t have good U-23 players in the PSL because we don’t give them the opportunity to play.
“Is Relebohile the only player who we can speak about now? No, there are a lot of players we can talk about. Rele plays for a team that is protecting him and we can see his quality and he is becoming an important player for Pirates. Can we see this in other teams so that in five years down the line, we have quality players to help the national team.”
