Under Leicester boss, Leshabela has a chance in the big league
Working with Brendan Rodgers presents SA midfielder Khanya Leshabela with the prospect of cementing his place in the first team of the English Premier League side Leicester City.
So says Thabo Senong, the former SA under-20 coach who worked with Leshabela in the junior national team.
Leshabela, who joined the Foxes academy when he was 13 years old, made his official first-team debut last Sunday when Leicester handed Sheffield Wednesday a 5-0 humbling at the King Power Stadium. He was introduced as an 81st-minute replacement for Ayoze Perez.
Senong, now coach of the Lesotho national team, believes the tutelage of Rodgers will fast-track Pretoria-born Leshabela’s integration into Leicester’s first-team squad.
“Khanya is fortunate to be working under Brendan Rodgers, who has a great background working with youth,” said Senong. “Rodgers was a youth coach at Chelsea during Jose Mourinho’s time there. Brendan is very good at transitioning youngsters from academy to performance football in the professional ranks.”
Senong called up Leshabela when Amajita went into the Africa under-20 Cup of Nations tournament in Niger in 2019 and the Fifa under-20 World Cup in Poland. He has never played in the SA league.
“When we engaged him he was interested in playing for the country. We invited him to join our base camp, which was in Nelspruit. Within a limited period we saw that he had huge potential as a strong attacking No 10. We needed somebody to unlock the defence especially because we were going to play against defensively organised teams such as Burundi in our group. He did a fair job in Niger and in Poland, especially against Portugal. He came to the party,” says Senong.
Leshabela’s dynamism, argues Senong, is his greatest asset.
“His greatest asset is that he is multifunctional. He is brilliant at exploiting pockets of space behind defenders. Khanya also has the ability to support the strikers. The modern game demands multi-functional players. Football is an ever-changing game. Teams come with different formations. Players have to adapt and that is not a problem for him given his skill set.”
Senong was also impressed by Leshabela’s numbers and personality.
“His average dribbling was 2.7 to 3.5 per match. That was fair for us to say he is a huge talent who injects creativity in the final third. As a person, extremely humble.”
Having lived in England since a young age, Leshabela qualifies to play for the Three Lions as does Kgaogelo Chauke, the 23-yearold on the books of Southampton who has already played for the England youth team. But Senong believes Leshabela must take the option of SA.
“One could see that he was extremely happy to come back home. We gave him a chance to connect with his family and he was appreciative of the gesture. We also have to be honest, the number of young talent in England playing at higher level as opposed to the number of South Africans, I will always advise him to choose SA.”
Leshabela is in the frame for David Notoane’s under-23 side, which is bound for the delayed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, between 23 July and 8 August this year.
“He is a top talent with nice touches. Leicester are still developing him. He has a good eye for a pass and good movement. I can see why Leicester are promoting him.
“He has some strong competition in his position in the form of Teboho Mokoena, Sipho Mbule, Athi Nkosi, Goodman Mosele and Grant Magerman.
“Let them fight it out.”