Nasir tipped to be a 'ceiling raiser' at Sundowns

Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Rulani Mokwena has tipped the club’s new forward Abubeker Nasir to be a “ceiling raiser” at Masandawana.

The Ethiopian youngster joined high-flying Sundowns and has already made his presence felt in the Premier Soccer League with one goal from two appearances from the bench in the DStv Premiership.

Nasir scored in the 4-0 drubbing of Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday.

“Ceiling raiser” and “floor raiser” are terms mostly  used in basketball.

A floor raiser is a player who joins a bad team and uses his skills to pull it up while a ceiling raiser is someone who signs with a well-oiled machine and adds value to make them even better.

Mokwena believes the player definitely adds more bite to the unstoppable Sundowns.

“I was watching a documentary about something used in basketball for scouting. Maybe later this thing will catch up in football.

“They were speaking about floor raisers and ceiling raisers.

“You can see that a player like Nasir is going to come into our club and become what you call a ceiling raiser in basketball.

“He comes into a very good team and with qualities that he possesses could raise our profile, especially offensively.”

Mokwena said once Nasir, 22, gets to grasp the English language better, South Africans are going to see how good he is.

Nasir signed for Sundowns during the January transfer window, but was loaned to his former club Ethiopian Coffee SC and the Tshwane giants hired an English tutor for the player.

“But again, as I said, let’s be patient, be calm and not rush too much in overhyping him because he has got so much to do,” Mokwena said.

“This first part we have to get over is the language barrier. The sooner we get over that we will see more good moments and more good performances from him.”

Sundowns will continue their mission to defend the league title for the sixth time when they travel to Sekhukhune United at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday (3pm).

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.