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Cape Town - Kaizer Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp admits he might have taken a bit long in bringing Andriamirado 'Dax' Andrianarimanana in to the first team after the midfielder's impressive recent performances.
The Madagascan midfielder, who was spotted by Chiefs after shining in the Cosafa Cup last year, has scored two goals in his last three starts for Amakhosi and has impressed with his work-rate and assuredness in possession of the ball.
But it took a while for the 28-year-old to break in to the first team. Of his ten appearances for Middendorp's side, six of those have come in the last seven games (all starts).
And the Soweto giants' mentor believes 'Dax' is something special and admits he could have brought him in to the team 'a little bit earlier'.
"Dax is something special‚" Middendorp said of the midfielder who celebrated his 28th birthday on Sunday.
"He gives us another dimension in the midfield play in terms contributing with clever passing. He’s good in keeping the ball‚ being available for a pass with good spacing."
Middendorp said that the language barrier was a factor in Andrianarimanana not getting an opportunity in the starting XI at an earlier stage.
"I could have brought him a little bit earlier (in the team)‚ but the language is still a little bit of a question mark‚" he said.
"But he understands because we do a lot of video analysis to give him the visual aspect‚ the movement in terms of what we want. At the moment he’s doing very fine but there’s more to come from him."
