Swedish top-flight side Varberg will be an important squad to watch in the next season for a glimpse into the future of SA football after they extended the contract of midfielder Keanin Ayer for two years.
Having also signed Tashreeq Matthews past week‚ and with a deal “95% done” for another junior international‚ Luke le Roux‚ it could be that three of the country’s top midfield prospects are all housed under one roof for the 2020 campaign.
Ayer‚ 19‚ has been rewarded for helping the club to promotion last season‚ where he played in 29 of their 30 league games and was the driving force in the middle of the park for coach Joakim Persson.
It meant he was linked with a number of other clubs‚ including top Swedish side IFK Gothenburg‚ where May Mahlangu excelled previously‚ but Varberg were desperate not to lose him and have tied him down for a further two years.
Ayer has certainly not followed a conventional path for SA footballers as he was plucked from the Johannesburg suburb of Eldorado Park‚ but was sent to the Right to Dream Academy in Accra‚ Ghana at the age of 13.
He spent five years there before winning a move to Varberg‚ making his professional debut as an 18-year-old in 2018.
Waning career
“Keanin is an incredibly intelligent player‚” Persson said previously. “He complements his teammates with his quality. Since he is a very individual‚ technical player‚ he understands a lot about the game.”
Matthews‚ 19‚ will be hoping to spark a career that has waned in the past 12 months.
From the highs of signing for German giants Borussia Dortmund‚ he spent some time with the reserves at Utrecht in the Netherlands‚ and played a number of games for Swedish side Helsingborg last season.
“He has an extremely high maximum level‚” Persson told the club’s website. “Tashreeq is young, so we will see how he can keep that level for a whole season.
“However‚ the whole team has a low age‚ so we hope it will be good for him with many players of the same age around him and that he will thus quickly fit in.
“But he has a lot of potential‚ so it will be very exciting to see what we can get out of him.”
Persson also revealed recently that a deal for SuperSport United midfielder Le Roux‚ 19‚ was very close‚ though the club has yet to make a formal announcement.
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