Raja Athletic Club Fadlu Davids deeply explained the settling in of Neo Maema and Rushwin De Reuck after joining Tanzanian side Simba SC.
Maema and De Reuck left Mamelodi Sundowns permanently at the beginning of the season and both joined Simba during Davids’ time. Unfortunately, Davids left just before they settled and went to join Raja CA.
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The duo didn’t look back despite Davids leaving Simba, they kept on having fantastic performances with Maema scoring in the CAF Champions League despite them losing the first two games.
“I was, unfortunately for them, and had that meeting with him, where I decided to step down after our first Champions League match. We won 1-0. I had that conversation with them. It was a difficult conversation, but both of them were needing that support, first of all, from a coach, because both, both are top, talents in South Africa that have never had much game time over the last couple of years,” Davids told SAFJA members
“And I know Rushwin because I was the one who gave him his debut at Maritzburg United. So, I know him from the player. He was coming with a plastic bag with his boots in the plastic bag, coming for a trial. And Neo has been phenomenal in one or two seasons, I think, under Coach Rulani in the Champions League, performing, and we needed that type of players with the Champions League experience, and it was easy for me to recommend them to the club. And like I said, the President really backed me in relation to which signings I needed to make.
“And they’re in an environment now playing Champions League, and both very respected throughout Tanzania, they’ve immediately established themselves as top players in the club without me, and that shows that they are top players, and they will be able to manage now, even though they’ve lost their coach, even the new coach coming in, I’m sure Will, Will see their value and continue to play them, because they are both top players, and will really help somebody in the Champions League and to turn around the group stage, although they’ve lost the first two matches.
“Your second question, David, yes, I will always be. We are looking on all areas of the world, and we’re not close to South Africa. It’s definitely a market that I know when you have two options, say, where one option may be a player you work with, or a player know, or a player you know the personality, where they will adapt to Morocco, because Morocco is also a different league, a different environment, where there’s no English, it’s French and Arabic. And these are all the criteria you make when signing.
“There are certain players from the PSL that will not be able to adapt to the league, and there are certain players that that will end. These are all the criteria we make. And yes, if there’s an opportunity and a player that is available and is willing to come and that fits into our criteria, we will definitely look at it. And these are the our recruitment meetings with our sporting director and the President and the board in relation to finding the perfect players to come in and not to only add depth into the squad, but to immediately affect the starting lineup. And it’s a certain type of player that needs to be recruited for January.
“You don’t really find the right players with the right mentality to come in and immediately impact your squad, and that is what we needed, so a very meticulous process into signing the right player for the club, within the right position, with the right mentality to be able to handle the pressures of big club like Raja, but also to be able to help us take that step to get back into Champions League.”
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