Kaizer Chiefs’ sporting director, Kaizer Motaung Jnr, has emphasized the importance of lowering the club’s average age.
The fact that Stuart Baxter appears to be basing his hopes on the older players has caused discontent among Amakhosi supporters.
After being knocked out of the Nedbank Cup, the Chiefs are set to extend their trophy drought to seven years, and fans are blaming Baxter for his insistence on using so-called veteran players.
Although some Amakhosi fans believe the elder players are sabotaging Chiefs, Baxter likes the senior players over the younger ones.
As things stand, Chiefs have an average age squad of 30.1 – their highest since the 2008-09 PSL season.
And Motaung believes that if Chiefs are to do well, they will have to find the right balance and quality between their youngstars and experienced campaigners.
He admitted that it is part of his responsibility as the club’s sport director to ensure that Chiefs achieve that objective.
Motaung Jnr’s sentiments will undoubtedly send a strong warning to underperforming seniors who are above the age of 30 in the current Chiefs squad.
MOTAUNG JNR TALKS TOUGH ON REDUCING AVERAGE AGE SQUAD AT KAIZER CHIEFS
“I’ll be honest and say that I wouldn’t be able to talk on how anything was sabotaged before. I think it would be more professional for me to address where I am now and how I am moving forward,” Motaung Jnr told the media on Wednesday.
“I think it’s key for everyone to understand, and something the club is always going to say, that youth is part of our main strategy. We have to reduce the average age of the team.
“And it’s not just us. If you look at world football and how you can bring the right change, most clubs have had a great balance in youth, and you have to start somewhere.
“Most of the legends who have donned our jersey who have made us who we are today started as teenagers, whether it’s Doctor [Khumalo], whether it’s our own chairperson who was 16, whether it’s Thabo Mooki,” he said.
“Of course, you’ve got to have the right balance of quality youth and quality experience but it’s a huge component for us.
“In the Caf Champions League, we achieved a piece of personal history and in the game that got us into the knockout stages, we had five players from the academy on the field.”
“So, I think it is lacking the right balance between the right level of experience, the right quality, and the right quality in youth, and it’s a huge point for me, in terms of my responsibility, to reduce the average age of the squad,” concluded Motaung Jnr.
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