SuperSport United coach Gavin Hunt has shared his thoughts on the progress made by young defender Ime Okon’s progress following his inclusion in the Bafana Afcon preliminary squad.
Okon has shown signs of being a quality player since breaking into the SuperSport senior team at the beginning of the season. He has also been rewarded with a call-up to the Bafana Bafana Afcon preliminary squad by coach Hugo Broos.
There has also been reports about whether Okon will choose between Bafana and the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
But according to Hunt, the 19-year-old still has a long way to go before he impresses the four-time league title-winning coach.
WHY GAVIN HUNT IS NOT CONVINCED BY IME OKON PROGRESS?
“He still has a long way to go, he has a long way to go. There are a lot of things,” he said.
“If you compare him to what I have had in my coaching career he has the ingredients. But a long way to go. I mean he has not scored a goal yet in 17 or 18 games and he has had to learn without me taking me out. He has to play because we don’t have anybody else.
“So he is getting a lot of game time with us and he should have been out of the team a few times. But I haven’t [excluded him from the team] because we don’t have anybody. He is learning on his feet, he was brilliant at the start but obviously center-backs mature later than the rest of the players,” explained Hunt.
PATIENCE WITH RIDING SUPERSPORT UNITED DEFENDER
“The best centre-backs all over the world are over 30 years, if you look anywhere in the World. So he has a long way to go and maturity at center back takes time. He needs time out and time in but we have just had him playing every game because we have had so many problems.
“So it’s good for him but also not good sometimes for his development. When he plays next to Tyson [Thulani Hlatshwayo] because Tyson can coach him throughout the game [he gets better].”
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