Having been in South Africa for close to five years, TS Galaxy striker Samir Nurkovic has given his opinion on the country’s standard of football.
Nurkovic was brought to SA by Kaizer Chiefs in 2019, signing from the Slovak club KFC Kormano. After his exit from Chiefs, he had a short stint with Royal AM before joining Galaxy.
Asked about his take on the level of the game in SA, Nurkovic said he’s impressed by the quality of football played in the DStv Premiership.
He says the talent he’s seen in South Africa is “hardly found” in other countries. However, the 31-year-old advised that much focus should be put on the development side to produce even better talent in the future.
SAMIR NURKOVIC’S OPINION ON STANDARD OF SOUTH AFRICAN FOOTBALL
“The standard of South African football…we showed now when we were in the mid-season camp in Turkey,” said Nurkovic during the interview with FARPost.
“We played there with some really good clubs from Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovenia and we scored a lot of goals.
“That’s showing you the standard and the level of South African players.
“My opinion is only that I think it will be good that they push from the development side. They must put a lot of focus on that side. But the one thing is I’ve been playing in a couple of countries in the world. The talent that South Africa has, you hardly find it anywhere else.
“The speed, agility, and the way they control the ball. You just need somebody to point in the right direction and say, ‘Now you need to do this, and this is what you need to do to be successful.’
“And the players need to follow that.”
Since his return to action, Nurkovic has scored eight goals in 18 matches across all competitions for the Rockets.
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