New man Lakay can resurrect his career

Jonty Mark

Bidvest Wits coach Gavin Hunt (right) is hopeful he can make good use of the talent of Fagrie Lakay, after his arrival from SuperSport United in the January transfer window.

The 21-year-old is available to feature for the Absa Premiership leaders Wits at Highlands Park this afternoon.

“Fagrie is a very versatile player, he can play in any attacking position. He’s joined us at the right age, and has a lot of talent which hasn’t been fulfilled prop- erly yet. He’s certainly got goals in him, that’s for sure. This is also an opportunity for us to get a player in now who can help us with our current season, but also who can benefit the team for seasons to come,” said Hunt, according to the Wits official website.

Lakay was the youngest player ever to represent Bafana Bafana when he came off the bench in the Nelson Mandela Challenge against the Ivory Coast in November 2014, aged just 17 years, five months and 30 days.

But his career has really failed to take off since then, a move to SuperSport United in 2015 seeing Lakay spend two-and-a-half seasons in Tshwane without scoring a single goal.

The Manenberg-born forward did manage three league goals on loan at Ajax Cape Town in the second half of last season as the Urban Warriors ultimately failed to survive relegation, but he again failed to ignite at SuperSport this season. This prompted an early departure for Wits, who persuaded SuperSport to let him come to them now as opposed to next season, in exchange for striker Mxolisi Machupu.

“As a young player, it’s a good feeling to join a club like Wits. They won the league recently and also won a few more trophies. Now the club stands a good chance of winning the league again. Every player wants to be part of a team that’s competing for trophies consistently,” Lakay told the Wits website.

“Wits have been doing very well this season. The team have been getting good results, credit to both the players and the technical team for that. As a player, this is a good environment for me to come into.

“Gavin is a very good coach. I’m looking forward to working with him and learning from him.”