Matthews happy with SuperSport squad
Matsatsantsa lacked depth last season
SuperSport United CEO Stan Matthews is satisfied with the balance of his team ahead of the new season.
SuperSport have so far added Vincent Pule, Pogiso Sanoka and Nyiko Mobbie, and Matthews said they would bring one or two more before the transfer window closes.
Last season, United proved they didn’t have enough depth to carry them through the league campaign as they struggled at some point.
But Matthews feels they’ve now put together a team capable of beating anyone in the new season. “I’m happy with the thinking. I think you have seen in the club that we’ve got a good band of older players who have matured in their 30s,” he told the media after they launched ACDC as their new sleeve sponsor yesterday.
“And a really exciting crop of younger players between the ages of 18 and 23. So, that part of the club is very healthy. We need to build the middle section of our club. The 24- to 28-year-old players can stay with us for a few years and that can grow in value.
“We are busy doing that. It is not easy to just overhaul your squad as you saw a year before when we lost a good young one like [Thapelo] Maseko. This time we lost another good one in Shandre Campbell. We might be losing Ime [Okon] as well.
“We lost Shandre with potential, but we brought in Vincent Pule, who has a proven track record. We lost Kegan Johannes, but we brought in Mobbie, who up to today has been ahead of Johannes in the national team setup.”
Matthews said they needed to be smart in the transfer market by bringing experienced players to balance the team. “If you look at the experienced players ... we have in the team Ricardo Goss, goalkeeper, Bafana Bafana player; Nyiko Mobbie, right back, Bafana [player],” he said.
“Tyson [Thulani Hlatshwayo] is a proven top-quality leader and defender. Sanoka is a proven versatile defender.
“In left-back, we are very young, except if we play Lyle Lakay there, and he is 32 years old. Now you are talking about the back-four of the Bafana experience, I don’t think anyone can complain.
“Moving into the midfield, [Grant] Margeman and [Siphesihle] Ndlovu are two of the dynamic midfielders.
“Then moving forward, there’s [Gamphani] Lungu, an established Zambian international, and [Zimbabwean Terrence] Dzvukamanja too.”