Kaizer Chiefs coach addresses Luke Baartman situation | OneFootball

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Kaze on Baartman lack of game time

Photo: Thabang Mofutsanyane/Enk Sports

Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Cedric Kaze has shed light on why newly signed starlet Luke Baartman is yet to make his debut for the club.

The 19-year-old striker recently joined the Soweto giants on a free transfer from Cape Town Spurs after he was declared a free agent by the PSL Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC).

While his acquisition was met with great enthusiasm, he, along with other new faces, hasn't featured for the club amid Chiefs' ongoing struggles in front of goal.

The Burundi-born tactician addressed the question marks over Baartman's limited game time and attributed it to inadequate fitness levels and match sharpness.

“Firstly Baartman came and he was not registered, after he went to the World Cup. I would say that he didn't come to the pre-season, which means in general he missed at least two months with the team,” Kaze said.

"I am a coach that believes in a process, which means that a player like [Asanele] Velebayi has come ahead of him and he was on the bench today [Wednesday], he could have played because he was training with us all the time, even at the time of the World Cup.

"We have 35 players, we have to choose who plays, who doesn't play. But at the end it's true that if you don't perform then someone else is going to play and I'm pretty sure that everyone will get his chance to play.

Kaze went on to state that they are angling towards utilizing Baartman in the Dstv Diski Challenge [DDC] team in order to get him up to speed on his match fitness and to benefit their reserve side.

“It's something that we are considering and it will help our DDC team as well to get better - it's something that we are considering,” he added.