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Baxter has confirmed he will act as a consultant to Celtic manager Neil Lennon on a casual basis. The former Bafana coach was approached by Lennon soon after the former Northern Ireland midfielder landed the Celtic job on a permanent basis and a deal has now been agreed.
That, however, did not stop Baxter from giving a word of advice about Mphela and SuperSport United defender Bongani Khumalo’s possible moves to Scotland. The only snag, Baxter told the Evening Times of Scotland, was that the two could take time to settle in because of a very different culture and style of football.
"I gave Katlego is debut and there was a hullabaloo about it back in South Africa at the time because no-one had really heard of him," Baxter told Evening Times.
"I had been tipped off about him by Arsene Wenger because the player was at Strasbourg at that time and Arsene had been following him since he was a 16-year-old.
"He came in and scored two goals in his first game and he did very well. He has pretty much been in the South African side ever since.
"Things never quite worked out for him at Strasbourg and he moved back to South Africa, but I would say that he is probably ready to step back into European football again. He will be looking to take his career forward and a move to Scotland would do just that.
"I think he could more than handle the physical side of things and cope with the hurly-burly of the SPL. He strikes the ball very hard with both feet and he is mobile and a willing worker.
"But there are always other issues with bringing players from one culture to another. He would certainly need to be given time to settle."
Baxter is credited with giving Mphela his full international debut in 2005 and the he believes that of the two players Rangers have been keeping tabs on, the striker is the more likely to fit into the SPL.
Khumalo doesn’t have the same kind of profile as Mphela and Baxter believes that when the cultural differences are so vast it can sometimes be a gamble to bring more than one player from the same nation to a club.
It might seem to make sense that they could support each other as they got used to the demands of Rangers and the Scottish game.
Baxter said it can work the other way with them relying on each other too much rather than integrating with the rest of their teammates.
He saw that happen when he was manager of Helsingborgs in Sweden. He said: "I had brought around half-a-dozen South Africans to the club. It wasn’t that they formed a clique, but they really stuck together and were a bit unsure of the other guys in the team.
"Players who are coming from one culture to another need to really make an effort to submerge themselves into the club and the society they have moved into.
"You need to have players who are prepared to learn the language and get to know other players and quite often if there is only one of them then they have to do that.
"When there is more than one it’s easier for them to stick together and stay separate from the group which isn’t really ideal. I suppose that’s the gamble.
"The problem is that sometimes the South African guys can maybe go off the rails a little if they are on their own and struggling."
The fact that Mphela, 25, has a spell away from South Africa might help him settle but Khumalo, 23, has only played in the local league.
However, Baxter expects that with the financial constraints on the game as a whole, and in the SPL in particular, it is inevitable that clubs will start to cast their nets wider as they try to sign players capable of enhancing their squads without breaking the bank.
Rangers have yet to make a signing this summer and having jetted out to Australia on their pre-season tour with just 12 recognised senior players, Walter Smith badly needs to add reinforcements.
"There are a lot of players in African football who are keen to make the move to Europe and the World Cup has raised the profile of some of them," said Baxter.
"Neither Mphela nor Khumalo is going to cost an arm and a leg yet they are very good footballers. Whether the move will come off, I really don’t know. But I would imagine that you might see a few African players Europe-bound before the transfer window closes."
