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Cape Town - Stellenbosch FC coach Steve Barker says the club's work in the transfer market sends a strong message to the rest of the PSL.
The Johann Rupert-owned side showed plenty of ambition in the transfer window, bringing in Granwald Scott, Ali Ntsengi, Ovidy Karuru, but most notably CAF Champions League winner Nathan Sinkala and recently-released Orlando Pirates defender Asavela Mbekile.
“Bringing in players of the calibre of Nathan and Asavela shows that the club has got intent to keep growing and developing as a club in depth and quality. So, the two signings are what we needed right now, and they fitted in nicely for us,” Barker told FarPost.
After a poor start to the season, Stellies appear to have now acclimatised to the top-tier. Before defeat to Black Leopards in their last fixture, the winelands outfit had won their last three league fixtures in a row, catapulting them up the Absa Premiership standings in to 11th and just two points adrift of the top eight.
“I do feel that we have now found our feet, I just get the impression on the field that no team is now looking at Stellenbosch and say this is a must win game. Every team coming to play us, they gonna have to work harder for a win,” concluded Barker.
Barker has fond memories of the Nedbank Cup during his time at AmaTuks, where he guided the Pretoria University side to the final in 2009 only to lose at the final hurdle to Moroka Swallows at the time.
And the 52-year-old believes winning the cup would put his team on the map and his players in the spotlight.
“As I was driving this morning, I was thinking about that cup final a decade ago. It was one of those magical moments and we had some really talented players who went on to have successful careers thereafter.
“It would be nice to again take a team of Stellenbosch, a new club to the final. Again, we’ve got some talented players that deserve to be seen on the stage week in-week out and hopefully this will be a situation where it launches careers,” added Barker.
- TeamTalk Media
