Muhsin to wrap his star sniper in cotton wool

YANNICK Zakri is fit again and raring to go but Ajax Cape Town coach Muhsin Ertugral has suggested he will not throw the Ivorian international striker back into the side for tomorrow’s crucial Absa Premiership clash at Lamontville Golden Arrows.

Zakri has sat out the last two matches having picked up a muscle tear after scoring twice in Ajax’s 3-0 victory over Orlando Pirates on January 31.

The player has declared himself fit to face Golden Arrows‚ but Ertugral believes a more realistic return date is the home game against SuperSport United next Wednesday.

“Yannick wants to play, he came to me yesterday and said‚ ‘coach‚ I’m ready’‚” said Ertugral.

“I explained to him what it means to have a tear in a fibril of a muscle. But he feels fine. He wants to get in there.

“For me that is a very positive sign that a player wants to play and hopefully he is in against SuperSport. After that it is a March period then when we play once and then have off. Then we go into the last six games‚ which might be very‚ very important.”

Ajax are currently secondbottom with 21 points from their 21 games but a win over Arrows would see them leapfrog the Durban club and rise to 13th.

The Urban Warriors have just a single fixture next month away at Bloemfontein Celtic having been ousted from the Nedbank Cup and with a Fifa date towards the end of the month.

Their fixture against SuperSport‚ originally scheduled for March 16‚ has also been moved to next week due to Matsatsantsa competing in the Caf Confederation Cup.

Ertugral has revealed that the club will be keeping busy with a number of friendlies over that period‚ which will help players like Zakri and midfielder Morne Nel‚ also just recently back from injury‚ get primed for the remainder of the campaign.

“Morne is ready‚ he wants to pay‚ but how much can he give us at the moment?” said Ertugral.

“Are we doing him justice to put him in there? That March break will also help him‚ because we will play Wednesday-SundayWednesday as we want to stay in rhythm.

“So that will give him a chance to play three or four games and show us what we can do.” — DDC