‘A special one’: Jayden Adams’ youth coach sees big future for Sundowns’ bright new star

He has hit the ground running at Mamelodi Sundowns and already there is simmering talk he may be the long-term replacement for ageing club midfield superstar Themba Zwane. 

Since he joined the Brazilians last month, Bafana Bafana midfielder Jayden Adams, 23, has broken into the star-studded Brazilians midfield and his former junior coach, Evangelos Vellios, is confident one of South Africa's burgeoning talents will make it if he stays safe. 

In matches Adams has featured for the Brazilians, coach Miguel Cardoso has used him in the creative No 10 role and the Capetonian has impressed in front of central midfielder Teboho Mokoena and Marcelo Allende. 

This is the position that Bafana Bafana midfield fulcrum Zwane, who has returned to full training after a career-threatening achilles heel injury, has made his own over the seven years of Sundowns’ dominance of the domestic scene, including the many successive Premiership titles. 

Adams has made four appearances in the 2024-25 Betway Premiership since signing for Downs from Stellenbosch FC on January 18, scoring one goal. He has two more appearances in a Brazilians jersey in the Nedbank Cup with no goals or assists, in a stirring start at Chloorkop for the player from the tough neighbourhood of Idas Valley in Stellenbosch, setting tongues wagging about his huge potential.

Vellios, Adams' coach in the junior structures and reserves at ambitious Stellies, where the player emerged through one of the best club development systems in the country, says the Brazilians have recruited a special player who is destined for greater things. 

“I started coaching Jayden around June and July of 2019. He was in our academy system at the time, playing for our under-18 team and it didn’t take me long to realise I was dealing with a unique and special talent,” said Vellios. 

“When I started coaching the DStv Diski Challenge [under-23 and reserve team] team, our second game was against SuperSport United, who had the likes of Jesse Donn, Luke le Roux, Oswin Appollis and Selaelo Rasebotja. We got an early red card in that match, but he bossed that midfield alone and I will never forget his impact there.

“I realised I was dealing with highly technical player and a winner. It was clear to me this was a special one.” 

Though Cardoso uses Adams more as a playmaker within a Sundowns system that is flexible, with the coach known for switching players' positions up more than once during the 90 minutes given the demands of the match, Vellios said the player's best position is in the advanced central midfield role. 

“I personally feel his best position is '8', but he is just as comfortable to be at '6' [in defensive midfield, or as a deep-lying playmaker] in the build-up, and he can play as a '10' as well. I would say he is somewhere between a 6 and a 10, which basically means he is an 8. 

“In a three-man midfield with Marcelo Allende, Teboho Mokoena and him, it is balanced. In some of their [Sundowns'] recent matches, it was Allende and Mokoena with Jayden used in the build-up. 

“He arrives in the box, he scored a nice goal against SuperSport United and he is a complete midfielder.” 

Vellios said Adams is the type of player with a huge appetite for winning. 

“I would say his strengths are commitment to winning, because he wants to win every training session and game and he will empty his tank to win. The second is his understanding of football — he is the master of space and he has an amazing first touch and ability for passing the ball.

“Those things make him an all-round midfielder who can control the game. He can chip in with a goal or two, he is strong aerially and he arrives in the box at the right time to score a few goals.  

“He is an elite creator and he can control the tempo of the game.” 

Since their promotion to the Premiership as 2018-19 National First Division champions, Stellenbosch have produced top talent. Vellios says Adams is possibly their best product. 

“He is definitely one of the greatest, if not the greatest, I have worked with. At Stellenbosch we had the likes of Devin Titus, Antonio van Wyk, to name a few. But considering the amount of games Jayden played and his achievements at the club, he will be in that conversation of being the best we have produced. 

“He was promoted to the senior team after one season with the Diski team. He was up and down [between] the two teams and he helped us in 2022 to win the Diski league. 

“He also went with us to England to play in the Next-Gen tournament that we won and he showed his class in that tournament.” 

Adams was part of Bafana Bafana’s bronze medal-winning Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) squad in Ivory Coast last year. He hit a stumbling block with national team coach Hugo Broos, being sent home for disciplinary reasons from the camp where the South Africans thrashed Congo 5-0 in Gqeberha in an Afcon qualifier in October last year.

Vellios believes the player's form for Sundowns will see him back in the national team for the next Afcon in Morocco in December and January.

“People were watching [while Adams was at Stellies] and one of those people was Bafana coach Hugo Broos, who took him to the Afcon in Ivory Coast. I would like to believe he will get a chance to go to Afcon in Morocco because he is a special football player.” 

Young footballers can be distracted by many forms of temptation. Vellios said Adams needs to keep on the straight and narrow to realise his potential.

“We have a close relationship and I know he loves football and my prayer for him is that he stays safe. I know he’s got a family and he must be wise with his money and set himself up for life after football.”