3) Major dip in form

in June but had been playing anyway for the subsequent three months: “They found out that there was a tear in my lateral meniscus, and you can play with that – but you cannot play on 100%. I was maybe at 70% and I wasn’t able to give the best Samir Nurkovic to the team on the field and

to help them the way I can.” He should be fit to return in February at some point and maybe it is promising that his poor form this season can be partially explained by not being fully fit. Perhaps his surgery will help to bring out the best Nurkovic again – though no operation is going to make him look at home on the left touchline!

One of the strongest arguments over why to offload the striker is that his form has been far below its best for a full 18 months, even with injuries factored in. In fact, when Chiefs lost out on the league title in 2019/20 on the final day, Nurkovic finished that season with no goals in the final five matches. Up until that point, he had netted 14 goals in 26 appearances, a goal every 180 minutes of action. He needed just 5.6 shots on average to find the net!

Nurkovic’s drop in form since then has seen him net just six goals in 43 outings, needed 585 minutes of fieldtime to find the net. He is creating fewer chances for teammates and winning a low proportion of his aerial duels too. He is still taking a reasonable number of shots, albeit 0.5 less per match on average, a significant drop. However, it’s now requiring 15 shots for him to put one into the back of the net. Whatever way you look at it, it does seem like PSL defenders have figured out how to deal with him physically… something that happened even towards the end of his first season. There is also the fact that Chiefs no longer play to his strengths. Aside from the transition-based style now used, Amakhosi also deliver a lot less of the type of service Nurkovic would enjoy: