Kaizer Chiefs coach Cedric Kaze has hailed the development of rising star Thulani Mabaso after he made his league debut for the club against Golden Arrows.
The reserve team sensation has long been touted as the next talent to graduate into the senior set-up and was part of their pre-season squad in the Netherlands, one of three DStv Diski Challenge talents, who won the league last season.
However, it’s taken until the second half of the 2025/26 campaign to earn a run-out in the league, in which he impressed on Tuesday evening in the 1-0 victory at the Calabash,.
“I think it’s a player that showed us that he can be consistent, the biggest thing, I have been in a youth set-up before, but here in South Africa we give too many gifts for the young players, a player like Mabaso, went to Netherlands and he did very good,” he said.
“But we wanted to see if he can be consistent, he did a very good league campaign with the DDC, went to England, did well in the Carling Cup, you can see it’s a player with character, he’s not scared, he doesn’t shy away when he plays against experienced players.
“We want to have those players with character, players with personality, who show they deserve to be there, not just one good game and get promoted, but showing all the time, that you’re a player who can bring something.”
Kaze stated his message was simple to the playmaker for a moment that he would not likely forget; “Go be yourself on the field, go enjoy, he’s a player that gives you agressivity, he’s a player that doesn’t like to play backwards.
“He’s a player that goes forward, he has quality of shooting and finds himself in good positions. The minutes he got today, we hope gives him confidence and going forward – we need his performances to be consistent.”