Liam Jordan

The young South African striker details the challenges in his career to date and how he is looking for his big breakthrough in Denmark.

After making his debut for Bidvest Wits at the age of 16 and being named in The Guardian top 50 talents globally before a dream move to Sporting Lisbon in 2016, the career of Liam Jordan has not quite followed the script. KICK OFF’s Akholiwe Nywebeni caught up with the 21-year-old, who currently plies his trade in the Danish second division at HB Koge, to find out what lies ahead for the South Africa junior international forward.

KICK OFF: Let’s take things back. You grew up in New Zealand, how did the move to Bidvest Wits come about for you?

Liam Jordan: The essence of it was that myself and my mother had been planning to move back to South Africa in 2013. The move was almost imminent in our heads and all we needed was myself to be set up football-wise. I had a contact at the time, who was in touch with [Bidvest] Wits and I was in touch with them for a while before that. Obviously not having any experience professionally before that, it was a bit of a risk but it paid off in the end because I knew I was always going to play football, so it was also the faith of that and believing in myself, coming to South Africa. I trained at Wits for two days and then after that, they took me in. I was training with the Under-19s when I first got to Wits, and after two days, Gavin [Hunt] said, ‘He must come with us [the first team]’. I was 15-years-old at the time.

What did that feel like, being drafted into the first-team set-up so quickly?

As a kid, I was always very confident, I’m still confident, but as a youngster, I was probably more confident than most kids my age because I knew what I could do. But I was surprised that being called up happened so quickly. I was ready though, excited and relieved that I was able to be challenged. I was excited that I was going to be playing with men and that I was going to be the young one expected to do good things and I actually welcomed that feeling and loved the attention that it brought because it made me want to be better.

Gavin Hunt has a possibly unfair reputation of not looking to play young players. You are a good example of him giving youth a chance.

There’s a difference between being young and getting a chance, and it’s another thing being young and adding to the team. I’m thankful that I wasn’t rushed into anything I couldn’t handle, even though I trained with the first team since I got there. The reason why I wasn’t pushed to the first team was that I could see that there were a lot of things I still had to learn. I still had to grasp men’s football, I still had to grasp the professional environment first and then when I was 16, 17 and 18, looking back now, I wouldn’t have taken the opportunity as well as I could have if it was without that kind of learning experience that I gained being held back and waiting for the right time. In that waiting, I got stronger, more patient and it taught me to fight harder and then in that, I became stronger for my chance that unfortunately wasn’t

with the first team at Wits. But then, further in my career, when I moved overseas, it helped me in other areas moving forward so, in hindsight, I can’t say anything bad about Gavin or the program. I’m just thankful.

You made your professional debut for Wits in a 3-0 win against the University of Pretoria in the Nedbank Cup, talk us through that experience as a 16-year-old.

I just remember that whole day. It was almost like a dream. You know, you’re there, but don’t really realise it’s happening until you’re on the other side. I didn’t take in everything until it was done, because, during the game, you don’t think about critics, the media or what the event is. You’re

“I DON’T WANT TO BE ON THE LIST TO FILL UP THE NUMBERS. I WANT TO BE ON THAT LIST BECAUSE I DESERVE TO BE ON THAT LIST.”