There are high hopes for South African U17 international Steven Mendes after he made his debut in Sweden within the Hammarby Academy structures.
Mendes, 16, joined the youth set-up of the Allsvenskan side in the window that has just passed after impressing in the Amakhosi development and earning his way into the national U17 squad.
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The promising midfielder has already made his debut for the club and his representative Matthew Moore of Centre Circle admits he wasn’t surprised that they were impressed by the player who was signed after an assessment at the club.
“He’s a solid 8, hard-working, smart player, what really sets him apart is his mentality. He’s always closing down players in midfield, playing at a high-intensity, I think it’s one of the things that caught the attention of Hammarby. He is very mature for someone who just turned 16-years-old,” he told iDiski Times.
“We have had good experiences in Sweden lately with some of our young players, we have an exciting 18-year-old left back, Keita Kosugi, who’s playing at Djurgården first team. He transferred from Shonan Bellmare in Japan.
“We also have another 16-year-old at BK Hacken in Sweden, an Australian centre-back Alexander Garbowski, they rated very highly and they have helped him a lot to develop him as a player.
“It was no accident that we took Steven to Sweden and I think he really impressed when he went there. So we’re looking forward to the next few years that he’s there. I’m hoping he can break into the first team as soon as possible.”
Mendes is the third South African to join the club after former strikers Nkosinathi Nhleko and Nathan Paulse.
Story by Lorenz Kohler (@Lorenz_KO).
