Shakes Mashaba unimpressed by PSL club that do not scout for talent

Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba says there are a lot of talented players waiting to be discovered and the former Bafana Bafana coach has challenged all the Premier Soccer League clubs to increase their scouting programmes around the country.

Mashaba‚ who is part of the technical team that selected the 18 Ke Yona players to play against SuperSport United at Makhulong Stadium on Sunday‚ said the success of the initiative over the past five years proves that fresh talent can be discovered.

“It goes without saying that PSL clubs must look at seriously improving their scouting programmes‚" he said.

"People are saying that PSL clubs don’t reach out to far away areas to look for players and they are right.

"It is not for initiatives like the Nedbank Ke Yona to look for players for the clubs‚ the clubs must go out there and look for these players themselves and groom them for the future.”

Mashaba added that the process of coming up with the 18 players from more than a 1000 who turned out for trials during the talent search throughout the country was not easy. He said they have come up with the best.

“It was a question of getting ordinary players and turning them into the extraordinary‚" he said.

"Take a look at our achievement in regards to players playing regularly in the PSL after the five years we have close to 12 players. We have players like Aubrey Modiba at SuperSport United and others who are doing well.

“After we announced the final 18‚ PSL clubs were on standby and they will give these players opportunities to go on trials.

"We are in the last week of training‚ we want to make sure we are ready to face SuperSport United at the weekend.”

United Coach Eric Tinkler has encouraged the players to ‘grab’ the opportunity with both hands as the initiative has has launched the careers of a number of players who were missed by the system.

“Some of our players are with Bafana Bafan but we will still be fielding a quality side that will be made up of first team players as well as young internationals like Teboho Mokoena and 2014 Nedbank Ke Yona Team graduate Aubrey Modiba who many of the current players should be looking to emulate.”

- TimesLIVE