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- MARITZBURG United coach Fadlu Davidsis looking to add a few experienced players to his young squad before the start of the 2018/2019 Premier Soccer League season.
Under the tutelage of Davids last season, the Team of Choice had their best ever campaign as they set a club-record 44 points in the Absa Premiership.
The men from the capital city of the province also finished fourth and played in the Nedbank Cup final, for the first time in the club’s history.
The 37-year-old tactician who is one of the youngest coaches in the PSL if not the youngest, is certain that it will not be tea party repeating the same feat this season and considering their continued involvement in the MTN8.
Davids is also aware of the fact that his youthful side lack experience — having lost the likes of Bevan Fransman and Denis-Danso Wiedlich in the previous campaign.
Nonetheless, the coach believes the youngsters are more than capable although he insisted that guidance from senior players will be critical if they are to continue establishing themselves as a force to be reckoned with.
“We will definitely sign more players. At the moment we’ve got zero players who are at the age of 30.
“That shows that we don’t have experience in the team after losing our captain Bevan Fransman,” said Davids.
“We have to be really clear that we lost three captains over the last year. First, it was Kurt Lentjies at the beginning of the last season then we lost Weidlich in the January window, so of course we need experience,” he said.
At the moment, the local club is thought to be assessing former Bidvest Wits defender Nazeer Allie, who is a free agent after parting ways with the Johannesburg outfit.
United have already made a number of signings for the campaign season with youngsters such as Keagan Buchanan, Denwin Farmer, Sizwe Muthwa and Tholang Masegela having been roped in.
The move might be a perfect opportunity for Buchanan, once touted the next big thing in the South African football during his time with Bloemfontein Celtic, to re-establish himself after a trying two-year stint with Kaizer Chiefs.
“He will give us something different in the midfield. We already have a highly talented midfield because if you look at teams of the season in most sites we have three of our players in each team,” said Davids.
“Of course he will have to adapt to our playing style and we have to understand that he hasn’t played competitive football regularly in a long time. It will take him time to adapt to the level of fitness he wants to be in.
“It’s very important that we don’t give too much, too soon as that will expose him to the risk of getting injured and that’s definitely not what we are trying to do.
“Once he is fit and once he understands what we are trying to do within our playing style he will definitely be in the pitch and give us something different our midfield doesn’t have.”
The ‘Blue Army’ of fans should get to see the new additions in the coming KZN Premier’s Cup. The annual pre-season event will be held in Durban with all seven provincial professional teams taking part.
K ZN PREMIER’S CUP FIXTURES
Quarter-finals
Bye: AmaZulu
Real Kings v uThongathi FC
Richards Bay v Royal Eagles
Maritzburg United v Golden Arrows
