Cape Town City FC coach Diogo Peral has shed light on the current limitations of young talent Emile Witbooi, explaining why the promising player is not yet ready to consistently complete 90 minutes of football.
The 16-year-old son of former Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Surprise Ralani made his professional debut for CT City last season.
Witbooi has only featured four times for the Citizens, including during the 0-0 draw in the PSL Promotional/Relegation Playoffs against Orbit College FC on Saturday at the Cape Town Stadium.
The SA junior international Witbooi came on as a second-half substitute, and his presence was immediately felt. It was unfortunate that he was not able to find a goal after his attempt from outside the 18-yard box hit the crossbar.
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Speaking to the media after the match, Peral explained why the SA Junior international can’t be thrown into the deep end as yet.
“We are happy and we know what Emile [Witbooi] can do,” Peral explained to the media.
“At the moment, if we could get the 20 minutes that Emile gives us at that intensity and the amount of tracking back that he does in those 20 minutes, if we could get that for 90 minutes, then of course the kid will start the game.
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“You’ve got to build him up. He’s a really talented kid. You saw the amount of time he was on the field and the difference that he made. But we can play him for a certain amount of minutes,” he added.
“We can’t expect him to keep to this kind of game for 90 minutes. So we’ve got to be careful when we put him on. But we are very happy. We wish we could have more of him.”
CT City, who are now second on the mini promotion log, will play Casric Stars on Wednesday as they look to retain their Betway Premiership status.
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