Chiefs coach Nabi assesses new signings and pre-season camp

Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi has shared his insights on the club’s recent signings and their just-concluded pre-season training camp in the Netherlands.

Nabi’s troops returned to South Africa on Saturday night and are now setting their sights on the Toyota Cup final against Asante Kotoko next Saturday.

The second edition of the Toyota Cup will be held at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium, offering Nabi a crucial opportunity to evaluate his squad, including new additions. One notable new signing, Siphesihle Ndlovu, was unable to join the team in the Netherlands as his transfer from SuperSport United was finalised after the squad had already departed.

Alongside Ndlovu, the Soweto giants have bolstered their ranks with Nkanyiso Shinga, Ethan Chislett, Thabiso Monyane, and Flavio Silva. Chislett, Shinga, Monyane, and Silva all featured in the five matches Chiefs played during their time in the Netherlands.

“They need to fully jell with the group,” Nabi told the Chiefs website when discussing his new signings. “However, they are all adapting nicely, and they start to understand what I expect from them. Our objective was to sign new players that will bring us to a higher level compared to last season.”

The Tunisian coach also had the chance to assess three promising youngsters promoted from the DStv Diski Challenge team: Thulani ‘Touch’ Mabaso, Kabelo ‘Festival’ Nkgwesa, and striker Naledi Hlongwane. All three played a part in the friendly matches, with Hlongwane notably scoring the solitary goal in the match against PEC Zwolle, securing Amakhosi’s only pre-season win.

Nabi emphasised his cautious approach with the young talents, stating, “We don’t want to rush them. However, I am always willing to give maximum opportunities to young talents. If you are good enough, you are old enough to play. That’s my philosophy.”

In addition, Nabi highlighted numerous positives from their European tour. “We saw a lot of positives in our training matches against very strong Dutch opponents. The players have started to understand the way I want them to play, and they jell well as a strong unit,” the former Young Africans coach noted.

He also commended the club’s management for organizing a high-quality training camp..

“We didn’t only want quality opponents, we also wanted quantity. Parallel with this, we did some tough physical work at training, even doing double sessions on the day before a match.”

Nabi further explained that this rigorous schedule was designed to prepare players to “play games while feeling extremely fatigued,” mimicking the demands of juggling domestic fixtures with CAF Confederation Cup matches and their often extensive travel.

“We even had two sessions the day after one of the friendlies, with the objective of getting the players mentally ready. That’s also why we organised back-to-back matches twice, playing a friendly two days in a row. It allowed us as well to give maximum opportunities to all the players to get minutes.”