Kaizer Chiefs coach reacts to Luke Baartman long-awaited debut

Interview

Ben Youssef on Baartman performance

Photo: Luke Baartman (no.11) & Chiefs squad

Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Khalil Ben Youssef has shared his thoughts on Luke Baartman's long-awaited debut against TS Galaxy last Sunday.

The 19-year-old forward arrived as a free agent from Cape Town Spurs but couldn't feature for the club due to a legal dispute with the Urban Warriors, who believed they are entitled to compensation.

This comes after the Cape Club was relegated to the third tier, which frees their players from any professional contracts according to NSL rules, much to the contest of Spurs.

However, Baartman, like Asanele Velebayi, was eventually cleared to play for Chiefs by the PSL DRC, but he struggled for game time, let alone make the matchday squad.

Now, the Tunisian mentor attributed Baartman's lack of minutes to strong competition in the frontline, and was pleased with the player's display on his debut.

“I think all the players deserve to play, we have a big squad now, there is competition between the players. For us as coaches, we are with them in the training sessions, we see which player is more ready for the game,” said Ben Youssef.

"Also, we prepare the plan of the game, we know when we have to make substitutions in the right moments. Baartman came on in the 80th minute, he played very well in the last 10 minutes, he created a lot of opportunities for us.

" We have to continue to work, the most important thing is the team not the [individual] player.