Sekhukhune United head coach Eric Tinkler has opened up on the experience that Lebogang Phiri brings to the team.
Phiri completed a move to Babina Noko in the January transfer window after spending eight months without a club. The former Bafana Bafana midfielder spent most of his career playing in Denmark, Turkey and France.
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The 31-year-old has returned to South Africa and hopes to play a huge role to help Sekhukhune achieve what they haven’t achieved which is to win a trophy.
Tinkler emphasized the importance of signing Phiri and how quickly they threw him into the deep end.
“We signed Lebo, and he was out of contract for eight months and yes, he is a hard-working professional,” Tinkler told the media.
“He tried to keep himself in good fit condition, but you can never replicate what you do in a gym running 10KM every day is never going to replicate what a full match represents.
“And truth be told, we kind of threw him in the deep end because we had to and, but we done it, in my opinion, in the right way. We looked at what minutes he could achieve, and we played him those specific minutes, and they were and I can actually give the game against Highbury as an example, where you could see that Lebo had reached that plateau where we pushed him too hard in those four matches, that his body just couldn’t cope anymore because of the space in between the games and the lack of recovery that is required.
“But I’ve known Lebo since he was 12 years old, and the Lebo of today is no different to the Lebo when he was young, he’s a highly committed professional, hardworking and someone who is still himself. He hasn’t changed since he became a professional and had the career that he had in Europe, he’s still the same guy that I remember when he was 12/13 all the way till he was 18 years old, before he moved over to Brondby.
“So, he’s still the same guy. So, you know, for me, it was bit of a no brainer, because hard working professional that gives everything to the club and obviously to the team, and then he has the right to attitude and mentality, but it was tough for him, and I know he’s going to be giving us a lot, a lot more going forward, especially, the maturity in terms of what he’s learned in his career overseas, playing in Europe, and you can see on the ball his level of maturity, his comfort. And I think we need that.”
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