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Cape Town Bidvest Wits coach Gavin Hunt feels that Phakamani Mahlambi should not have been called up to the national team for their upcoming friendly games.
The highly promising 19-year-old Clever Boys striker has only been back in action for a couple of months after a long term injury of nearly a year.
Mahlambi's recent form though has caught the eyes of the Bafana Bafana selectors, who have called him up for two friendly games - against Guinea-Bissau in Durban on Saturday, and against Angola next week Tuesday in East London.
Hunt feels the national team call-up has been badly timed and that the player, who looked a bit sluggish against Al Ahly in a Champions League match on Sunday, should have been given more time to obtain full fitness after the long injury layoff.
"The worst thing for Phakamani is going to Bafana right now," Hunt was quoted saying by KickOff.
"That is not the right thing for him. He needs to be here and do a little more of training here and get settled again.
"But then I am happy for the boy, I am saying if you look at his progress now he needs a little bit of time away from all that stuff and work a little bit.
"This would have been a good week for us to work because we don't play for two weeks. We can work on a lot of things with him but obviously going to the camp they are not going to do any work with him so it is a problem.
"There are a lot of things going on. I still have a lot of work. Phakamani has had a big injury, ACL, then nine months out. He came back with a bang, scored three in two games and obviously he has hit the wall now and it takes time," explained Hunt.
