Kaizer Chiefs coach Steve Komphela admits that his squad are still on the lookout for a striker, but says it will have to be a free agent.
Amakhosi have made a dismal start to their 2017-18 campaign, being knocked out of the MTN8 cup at the hands of SuperSport United, before playing to a stalemate against Bloemfontein Celtic and conceding a loss to SuperSport in the league.
Chiefs bolstered their squad with the arrivals of Bongolethu Jayiya, Dumisani Zuma, Philani Zulu and Teenage Hadebe. However, the Chiefs faithful are calling for a striker to be bought.
“Ja, we’re still battling. Listen, there’s one thing you must understand, when you’re working in a system, you are the system,” Komphela explained.
“It is very important for one – irrespective of pressure – to not all of a sudden become something like you are now outside the system. You are the system.
“There’s no way one can come sit here and point at things. We’re trying to sort out things – one of them is a striker. We have two slots, we’re trying to manipulate that before the window closes, we get this person in to try and help us.
“If not [then], there’s going to be someone who’s good enough [and] who’s got his clearance, and even after the 31st [of August] we shall go for them.”
Having already rejected the chance to sign Argentine forward Jonathan Philippe, Komphela says he has players in mind that he would like to bring on board.
“There are players we’ve targeted. I’m sure we’ve gone through a list of 20, and it is not out of our lack of willingness to get these players,” he added.
“There’s a player we were looking at who went to Turkey, another one went to Greece, the other one went to Sweden, and all this.
“In South America, Europe, Africa we are searching, but we want to take the right decisions because I think the responsibility with any coach is that when you take a decision, it’s not in your own best interest, but in the long term for the club.
“After having taken a decision to say, okay, let’s sign ‘V’, and then ‘V’ doesn’t play well – the club has lost money and you’ve wasted time, so you need to have the right player.
“[For example] Paez – he could miss or do whatever, but the quality he possesses we all see, and he’s been accepted. The other thing is acceptance.
“In whatever you’re doing, no matter how well you do, it’s about the next person accepting it. No matter how bad you do, it’s about them accepting it.
“The player needs to be accepted by his teammates and the club, and then you will see they will flow. We are busy identifying that player, in no time it will be sorted,” concluded Komphela.
– This story originally appeared on SportsClub.co.za
