Cape Town City look outside SA's borders for new recruits to bolster the team

Cape Town City will look outside of the country rather than within for new first team players next season with coach Eric Tinkler admitting they are scouring Africa for new recruits.

Tinkler says the side need to add quality to their squad rather than quantity‚ believing a number of strategic signs will add healthy competition‚ and has dismissed the notion of dipping into their MultiChoice Diski Challenge (MDC) team to find them.

“Our MDC squad in our first season was quite literally put together in a matter of four weeks‚” Tinkler tells Times Media Digital.

“We were just trying to get the numbers up to be honest‚ so it was all a bit of rush and not that much thought went into it.

• CTN City set their sights on big-name signings as Tinkler aims to maintain standardsEric Tinkler has revealed that Cape Town City will be entering the transfer market in the next window‚ looking to create greater competition in the squad to build on their fantastic maiden campaign. 

“That’s why we didn’t really compete in the MDC‚ but having said that‚ we probably actually did quite well in the end.

"There is not really any players there that we would consider for the first team now‚ there are one or two talented individuals who need another season at that level and then maybe.

“We can now put more thought into the make-up of that team and‚ in time‚ it could be a source of players for the first team.”

Aside from the local market‚ Tinkler says they are also once again looking for players outside of South Africa’s borders having signed eight foreign players in the 2016/17 campaign.

• Cape Town City guarantee top three finish with win over Arrows Musa Bilankulu scored an own goal in the final minute to give Cape Town City a 1 -0 victory over Lamontville Golden Arrows in the Absa Premiership on Wednesday and keep alive their hopes of playing African Champions League football next season. 

Renard Rode (Latvia)‚ James Brown and Matt Sim (both Australia) were all gone within six months‚ though the latter did make an impact in helping the side win the Telkom Knockout.

“Our philosophy with the foreign players is that they must play‚ not come to make up the numbers.

"If a foreign guy is not in the starting line-up most of the time then it is a problem‚ unless it is a youngster who you have signed because you want to groom him and see a future further down the line.

“We currently have a few [foreign] positions available‚ and it is about finding players who are going to strengthen the starting XI.”

The last statement is an intriguing one.

• City froth at Pitso 'moves'In a hard-hitting statement that could lead to a PSL charge for Pitso Mosimane, Cape Town City owner John Comitis joined his coach Eric Tinkler in accusing the Mamelodi Sundowns manager of "dirty tricks" by trying to woo their player, Aubrey Ngoma, to the Pretoria club. 

While Tinkler would not discuss who would be leaving the squad at the end of the season‚ they do already have five foreigners on their books.

Young Zimbabwe international goalkeeper Tatenda Mkuruva is seen as the long-term successor to 35-year-old Shu-Aib Walters‚ while Mozambique left-back Edmilson Dove has been solid enough.

Austrian midfielder Roland Putsche recently signed a new contract at the club‚ while 18-year-old Malawi international attacker Isaac Kaliati is set to join the team for next season.

That places the position of Ghana centre-back Joseph Adjei‚ who has played just eight times this season‚ under threat.

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport