Cape Town City head coach Eric Tinkler believes their new striker Jó Paciência has shown some similarities to Fagrie Lakay.
City have yet to secure a reliable forward since their record sale of Lakay to Egyptian Premier League Pyramids but in the form of the Angola intentional, Tinkler is confident they have lured a gem to the DStv Premiership.
Paciência, who arrives after a stint with GD Interclube in the Girabola will be remembered for his role in the 4-1 thumping of a woeful Bafana Bafana in the African Nations Championship qualifiers at Dobsonville Stadium last year.
“He’s somebody who trained with us in February, we had an opportunity to see him there, Angolan, explosive, little bit in the Fagrie ability in terms of his first two, three meters, he has explosive speed,” Tinkler explained over their new signing.
“He knows how to finish, left, right, aerial ability, he’s spent quite a while inactive, not playing, so we’ve been pushing him extremely hard, in terms of his fitness, his aerobic endurance – his repeat sprints, his understanding of English, our game model.
“But I see someone who can and help us and be the type of striker that we need within our system. We didn’t feel Bertrand Mani fitted, but we believe Jó Paciência does fit that mould a lot better.”
Former TS Galaxy left-back Tshegofatso Nyama, and DR Congo youth international Ramazani Tshimanga are their other signings while promising midfield duo Luyolo Slatsha and Luphumlo Sifumba have officially been promoted to the first team.
“He [Nyama] joined, has been very good so far in pre-season, been very happy with the signing, good boy, hard-working, disciplined, reminds me a lot of Terrence Mashego in terms of his ability and work ethic,” Tinkler added.
“He’s shown improvement in terms of understanding what our expectations are of him.”
