Magesi FC head coach Clinton Larsen believes it is only a matter of time before his striker Wonderboy Makhubu gets a national team call-up.
Makhubu was instrumental for the Limpopo side when they gained automatic promotion to the Betway Premiership, scoring 11 goals last season. He has so far played eight matches in all competitions for Magesi in topflight and has two goals to his name.
Larsen says the 27-year-old has rare qualities for a forward and his teammates need to create better scoring opportunities for him to get into double figures and once that happens everyone will start taking note of his qualities.
“Coming to Bafana-Bafana I think it’s just a matter of time,” said Larsen to iDiski Times when asked about the striker.
“Like I said, we’ve played six league games, three cups games, nine games in total and I’ve been around the block a few times and I don’t think I’ve seen a better striker in the teams that we’ve played so far, my honest opinion.
“I really rate him very, very highly. So I’m sure that after this season, and like I said in the beginning of the season if we create goals for him he’s going to get into double digits and I believe that once that happens, even other teams will start to take note of him.”
The coach admits that Makhubu lacks PSL experience, however his work rate and attitude towards work is of a top player.
“With Wonderboy Makhubu like I said, he may not have the experience of a lot of players in the Premier League,” added Larsen.
“I don’t even think he’s played 20 Premier League games, including his last stint in the PSL, but he’s got rare qualities for a striker. He’s one of the hardest working strikers in the league.
“When you talk about defending from the front, Wonderboy, his name is up there with the best. He put defenders under so much pressure with his selfless pressing action, and he’s always available to receive the ball when the team’s been defending with his running into channels behind the defensive line.
“And again, I’m going to say outside of Wonderboy the player is Wonderboy the beautiful human being, clean heart, comes to training every day with a smile on his face and those are the type of players as coaches, or some of us coaches, we really, really take to because they are such a pleasure to coach.
“And when success comes their way, you can’t be anything but happy for such people and Wonderboy is one of those.”
On Saturday, Magesi booked their spot in the Carling Knockout final after beating Richards Bay 1-0.
