Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has heaped praise on the Premier Soccer League for developing talent for the national team and says he’s not afraid to use youth in the senior team.
Ouaddou started his coaching career in the development ranks of his former club AS Nancy in France before eventually moving to senior football, with a stint as Algeria national team assistant coach, Mouloudia in Morocco, Loto FC in Benin, AS Vita in DR Congo and then Marumo Gallants – where his brief time caught the eye of Pirates.
On the recent trend of young players earning more game-time in the PSL, more importantly at the Buccaneers with the likes of Relebohile Mofokeng, Mohau Nkota, Mbekezeli Mbokazi playing major roles in the starting line-up since being promoted from the reserve team – he was full of praise of the PSL and South African Football Association overall.
“I want to congratulate all the stakeholders, the clubs in the PSL, the federation who are focused in the development of the youth in South Africa,” he told Pirates media team.
“If you watch all the players in many African teams. You can see that 80-90% of the players were developed abroad, I don’t want to mention these teams, but in South Africa, most of the players come from the league.
“You should be proud as South Africa, because it’s what we are looking for, a national team who has 90% of the players developed by [local] clubs, many from Orlando Pirates, it’s pride. I have big respect for the clubs [in South Africa].
“For those who don’t know, I started coaching in 2014, I worked six years in development which I wanted, you learn to understand football, it’s not easy, I started from the lowest to understand the stages of football [development].”
Ouaddou he won’t be afraid to blood in more young talent into the team, if they show potential to make an impact for their ambitions this season, which sees them return to the CAF Champions League for the third consecutive campaign.
“If I have a good player, 16, 17, 18 – and he’s able to bring something to the team, I will not be scared to use him, no worries about that. A youngster can bring you energy, pace, but in the same time you must find balance around the team, with experience as well.
“You need them sometimes to say guys, we’re leading, so this areas we need to close or maybe go forward to imbalance the opponent, to continue this energy, so it’s important to have the right balance to win league and the big competitions.”
