Sundowns to bide their time with Coetzee return

Cape Town - Mamelodi Sundowns defender Rivaldo Coetzee will not be rushed back into first team action, says the club's Reserve team coach David Notoane.

Coetzee joined the Brazilians at the start of the 2017/18 season but missed the entire campaign due to a foot injury, which also pout paid to his hopes of signing for Scottish giants Celtic.

This season has seen the 21-year-old Bafana international making tentative steps back, and he has featured for the Sundowns second stringers in the Multichoice Diski Challenge league.

Sundowns head coach Pitso Mosimane recently aired his concern as to whether Coetzee would ever be able to play at the top level again, while the player has reportedly been needing to take pain-killing injections to get through matches.

Notoane however is slightly more optimistic about Coetzee's future, but has underlined the importance of taking things one step at a time.

"We need to give him some time and the space for him to reach his best form before we send him to the senior team," he told the Citizen.

"These things take some time, but we are seeing some good progress.”