Midfielder Keagan Dolly returned to the county to join Kaizer Chiefs as their marquee signing of the transfer window following a four-and-a-half-year stay in France but one of his former coaches believes he could have moved to Spain in his teenage years.
Upon his return to the DStv Premiership, Dolly has signed a three-year deal with Chiefs after his time at Montpellier came to an end after the expiry of his contract.
“So many times, once I speak to a player it is because I see a lot in him and that is why every time, I had an opportunity to coach whatever group that would go overseas I would want him (Dolly) to go,” says Dan Malesela, who coached Dolly for several years at the School of Excellence and Mamelodi Sundowns development ranks.
“This was because I already thought then that he is obviously national team and overseas material. Unfortunately, sometimes players go where you don’t expect them to go for their football and for me, I thought he might move somewhere else other than where (France) he went. Not that I underestimate but you are looking at bigger leagues. When we went to Spain (for a juniors’ tournament) I thought that maybe somebody would identify him, but it didn’t happen,” says Malesela.
Arriving at Chiefs looking not in the best of shapes, Dolly will still be looked upon to provide the difference as the club works towards ending their lengthy trophy drought.
“I don’t know what happened overseas, but one can only wish him the best at Kaizer Chiefs and let us see if his experience will help which I think will. I hope he has grown from what he was when he left to become a much better player now,” notes the former Chippa United coach while adding word on the Bafana Bafana international’s early days.
“We identified him during open trials at the school which we held every year for boys going to high school and I think I spent more time with him than the other coaches at the school. I took him to a number of tournaments. We went to Brazil, Spain and Zurich (Switzerland) for the FIFA inauguration tournament where he got a gold. He went on to grow quicker than we expected and when I moved to Sundowns I recommended him to the coaches and was in the group that went to ALK PUK Tawana. I also recommended that he train with the first team, but things didn’t work out because somebody felt he was too small and that is when he went to Ajax,” says Malesela.