Junior Khanye has weighed in on the talk that influential Kaizer Chiefs attacker Gaston Sirino should be considered for Bafana Bafana.
In recent weeks, there have been discussions on social media on whether the 33-year-old Uruguayan should be considered for selection into coach Hugo Broos' team.
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The star, who has been instrumental in Chiefs' revival this season under coach Nasreddine Nabi, is eligible to play for the South African national team as he has been in the country for more than five years and has never represented his national team.
Sirino arrived in Mzansi in January 2018 when joined the Mamelodi Sundowns.
So far this season, he has scored two goals for Amakhosi and bagged three assists in five matches across all competitions.
"I like Sirino too much, but we need to be realistic. How is a boy like (Relebohile) Mofokeng going to grow if we add Sirino to the South African national team? Lamine Yamal is doing very well for Spain and Barcelona despite him being that young, and why can't we do the same with our players? As the nation what are we saying to Mofokeng, (Siyabonga) Mabena, (Mfundo) Vilakazi from Chiefs, (Mohau) Nkota and all these other talented kids if we talk about Sirino possibly being added to Bafana? Are we saying we don't have special players of our own? If Sirino was good enough for his country, he would have been playing for them. If he was good enough at international level, he would have been playing for Uruguay," said Khanye, speaking exclusively to the Siya crew.
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"Maybe this goes to show us that the Betway Premiership isn't a very difficult league to play in. For the Betway Premiership, Sirino is very good and make no mistake about it. The guy is one of the best players in the league but if he was that good for international level why hasn't he played for Uruguay? I have made an example about some of the talented and promising players that we have at the different clubs in the league and a lot of money was used to invest on them as they come from reputable academies, and why can't we have trust in these boys so that the investment on them can yield the intended results? The School of Excellence invested a lot on Mofokeng and Mabena and (Kutlwano) Letlhaku at Sundowns, oh what a star. Pirates invested on Nkota and it's the same for Chiefs who invested on Vilakazi. Are we now prepared to throw all that investment down the drain? We need to put emphasis on continuity and make sure that these boys graduate from the junior national teams to the senior side. Sirino is a no for me for Bafana," concluded Khanye.
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