Wednesday Apr 29, 2020. 14:00
Former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Andre Arendse has revealed as to why in his view the likes of Itumeleng Khune never earned a European deal.
Arendse, who spent time at both Fulham and Oxford United during his playing career, is of the opinion that the current crop of South African goalkeepers are as talented as those he played with and against, but that financial circumstance have made players more reluctant to pursue a deal abroad.
South Africa’s most notable current goalkeeping export is Darren Keet who plies his trade in Belgium’s second division for OH Leuven.
While Khune could’ve in all probability forged a successful career overseas, Arendse argues that the motivation behind moving abroad might have changed as salaries became more competitive.
“I think you would have to look at a combination of things,” Arendse told KickOff.com.
“You know in the modern South African game, we have just as much quality in the goalkeeping department as we had back in the day when I was playing.
“You had some massive names you know when you include the likes of Brian Baloyi, Roger de Sa, Mark Anderson, Steve Crowley… all of these quality goalkeepers coming through, and I’ve just mentioned a few of them… John Tlale is another one, and Grant Johnson.
The SuperSport United and Bafana Bafana goalkeeper coach added: “I think the difference between then and now is not so much, but it is the amount of money that is in the game now opposed to then.
“Back then it was also a way of putting yourself in the European market so you could earn more money and so you could also learn more about the game, which is one of the reasons I went abroad, to learn more about the game. It helped me because I’ve incorporated a lot of things that I’ve learnt over there into my coaching now.
“So there is lot more money in the local game and perhaps because of that there is not a lot of interest in terms of going overseas.
“I know it is every player’s dream to want to go overseas, but the opportunities maybe are not as many as they were back then. And if you combine that with the earning power that the players have in the modern game, it’s a combination of factors,” he concluded.
Aged 45 years and 10 months, Arendse became the oldest player to feature in South Africa’s top-flight when he was forced to come out of retirement to assist a Bidvest Wits team depleted by injuries suffered by their goalkeeping department in May 2013.
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