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AmaZulu coach McCarthy praises Cape Town City loanee Kewuti
Prior to arriving in KwaZulu-Natal, the Cape Town-born midfielder had played 30 top-flight matches for the Citizens over two-and-a-half seasons
AmaZulu coach Benni McCarthy is happy with the impact on-loan Cape Town City midfielder Zukile Kewuti has made with the Durban club.
Kewuti worked under McCarthy during the former Bafana Bafana striker's time in charge of the Citizens, and the now 25-year-old seemed set for a bright future.
However, the impressive form of some of City's other midfielders, especially Thabo Nodada, saw Kewuti's game-time with the Cape Town club limited and he was allowed to join Usuthu on a short-term loan deal in the mid-season transfer window.
Prior to arriving at AmaZulu two weeks ago, Kewuti had only played in one league match all season - he got 55 minutes in the 2-2 draw with TTM.
But McCarthy has been content to thrust the midfielder straight into the action in important matches - he played 83 minutes in the 0-0 draw with Swallows and followed that up with another 76 minutes in the 2-1 victory over Kaizer Chiefs last week.
“I’m very happy with what I saw from Zukile [Kewuti],” McCarthy was quoted saying by the Daily Sun.
“It’s not easy coming into a team that is in good form and on a good run. We must remember that he has not been playing consistently at Cape Town City, so he’s gonna run out of legs in the first few matches.
“But I think he just makes us so solid in midfield. I’m very happy with his debut. And like I said, he is a player whom I like. I know the qualities he has and what he can bring to this team and he’s only going to get better with more game time. I’m positive about that.”
The Usuthu head coach also expressed his admiration for youngster Samkelo Mgwazela, who got his first two matches of the season recently, also against Swallows and Chiefs.
“Samkelo is just a breath of fresh air,” McCarthy stated.
“A young man but he’s so valiant, so brave. He gets thrown in the deep end and swims. I think we looked more dangerous when he came on."
Mgwazela was signed from Golden Arrows' reserve team and the 20-year-old central defender had not been expected to play much in the AmaZulu first team this season.
