New Bafana Bafana midfielder Luke Le Roux has vindicated his decision to move to Europe before his Premier Soccer League debut and is now ready to show what he’s worth.
The 22-year-old midfielder was always amongst the highly-rated talents emerging in the country during his time at Maties, Stellenbosch and later SuperSport United with dominant performances in the youth set-ups.
But his transition to senior football was stunted somewhat by a lack of opportunities. He played one game for Stellies in the Nedbank Cup, where he registered an assist in a 3-0 win over Mbombela United and games in the CAF Confederation Cup for Matsanstsa against Petro de Luanda and two against Gor Mahia.
But that was all she wrote for Le Roux in South African football before he made the switch to the Allsvenskan with Varbergs BoIs and he’s become a key figure in their midfield racking up 71 appearances already.
“Unbelievable, I can’t describe it in words, I’m a firm believer in God and I think all good things happen in time, so whether it was two months ago or two months later I think that was the right time for me,” Le Roux said when asked by iDiski Times about his maiden call-up. “I’m very happy to be here and now it’s up to me to grab the opportunity.”
“I haven’t played any PSL games but I was with SuperSport in the PSL for two years, I played in the Diski League, so going to Sweden was a step up. I needed it at the time, I was 20 years old and I wanted to play – I think going to Europe is everyone’s dream, so being a 20-year-old going to Sweden, I think it was the right step to take.
“You can go to Portugal or Netherlands [after that], it was important for me to do, now I;m enjoying my football, playing every week and hopefully it can remain like that.”
With the majority of South African football fans not being able to see him in action, Le Roux has described his style of play – having once been an attack-minded player in his formative years, he’s now developed into a technically gifted holding midfielder within the physically demanding Swedish top-flight.
“I can play as a six or an eight, being a 22-year-old in football these days, you are young but you are not old – it’s your time to shine, to come through now and come back to me,” he explained.
“I’m good on the ball, I can stop counterattacks very well – I have good vision, I can play between the lines, behind the lines but I don’t want to give too much expectation, I will give 100 percent at all times.”
Le Roux will now be aiming to impress head coach Hugo Broos with the hope to make his senior national team debut against Sierra Leone or Botswana after featuring previously with the U17 and U20 national teams.
🇸🇪 @VarbergsBoISFC midfielder Luke Le Roux on his 🇿🇦 #Bafana call-up:
“It’s the biggest achievement of my life so far.” @BafanaBafana | @iDiskiTimes pic.twitter.com/zb9IKhQRAn
— Lorenz Köhler (@Lorenz_KO) September 19, 2022
