Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter has revealed that Njabulo Ngcobo has been ruled out for a few weeks after suffering the “worst burns” the coach has ever seen in a footballer.
The 27-year-old was voted DStv Premiership Defender of the Season in 2020/21 but has somewhat struggled to secure himself a spot in Baxter’s defence, appearing in midfield in a few of his games since joining Amakhosi.
However, he missed Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to TS Galaxy and Baxter later confirmed that Ngcobo will be sidelined for the foreseeable future after suffering some serious burns.
“Ngcobo has some of the worst burns I’ve ever seen on a footballer and he has been out of training,” he told reporters.
“He is not training at the moment, he wasn’t selectable for tonight and he won’t be for a while.”
Baxter also discussed why Ngcobo has not always played at his preferred centre-back position, with Eric Mathoho and Daniel Cardoso being the coach’s go-to centre-back pairing for large parts of the first half of the campaign.
“Even though he wants to play at centre-back, he will play at centre-back if he’s the best centre-back that we have,” he added.
“If he’s not the best centre-back we have and I put him into centre-midfield, I would think that he wants to play where ever he’s selected – which is the indications he’s given to me.
“I’m sure his preference is centre-back but he’s got to prove to us that he is the best centre-back for that job.
“He’s had a few injuries and he’s been up and down, so it hasn’t been easy for him in his first seas on at Kaizer Chiefs.
“I’m not rushing him, I’m trying to evaluate him over a longer period of time and it would help him in his valuation, if he didn’t have a 12 inch burn that ripped the skin of him and he can hardly walk.
“It would help him if he was in training to show that he’s worth a place once he gets over that.”
Chiefs return to action on Tuesday evening, facing Cape Town City at the DHL Stadium at 19:30.
