Former Bafana Bafana defender Lucas Radebe is adamant that Stuart Baxter is the right man for the national team job, despite failing to lead South Africa to the 2018 World Cup.

Baxter has been widely criticised by the public in the aftermath of Bafana’s failure to qualify for the World Cup, with many questioning Safa’s decision to reappoint the former SuperSport United mentor.

Radebe, who formed part of the committee that recommended Baxter’s appointment in May, backed the 64-year-old in addition to saying that not enough quality young players are being produced in the country.

“Yes, it was a good decision [to recommend Baxter]. Give him a chance. He deserved the opportunity to do the job,” he told IOL.

“He said ‘Yes, I will do it’ and we said ‘If you say yes I can do it’, let us give him a chance.

“At the moment with the national team, I don’t think we are producing enough young players. We have Percy Tau, who I think is late. He should have been there three years ago. It is slow,” he added.

The Leeds United legend also spoke of the lack of South Africans plying their trade abroad.

“If you look at teams abroad, you ask yourself  ‘which continent is represented the most?’, it is Africa, but is South Africa there?

“No. When Bafana were doing well during our time, we had a lot of overseas players. We had a strong pool of players.

“Today, our players are struggling to compete against players who are plying their trade abroad,” he concluded.

Bafana face Senegal in the second leg of the World Cup qualifier on Tuesday night.

Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix

-This story originally appeared on SportsClub.co.za