Rivaldo Coetzee is very highly rated in South Africa – but can he have the same impact at Celtic?
It’s fair to say South Africa have never enjoyed the emergence of a ‘Golden Generation’ of talent. Yet, in the last twenty years, a decent smattering of talented players have emerged, from Quentin Fortune to Steven Pienaar via Benni McCarthy, Lucas Radebe and Aaron Mokoena.
And while Ajax Cape Town’s talented 20-year-old Rivaldo Coetzee has a long way to go before he can claim to have matched their respective achievements, the centre-back could at least follow in their footsteps with a high profile move into the European game.
According to the Daily Record, Scottish champions Celtic are closing in on a deal to sign the 22-time international, with Coetzee expected to be pictured in green and white before the end of the week.
And, if Ajax CT’s assistant coach is to be believed, Celtic fans should be excited by the addition of a player they will likely know very little about.
Extraordinary
“We are proud of Rivaldo, we all know he is still young and has extraordinary qualities as a player,” Mich D’Avray told the Ajax Cape Town website in 2016. “We are proud of the boys and we wish the national team including Rivaldo all the best as we are confident they can reach the World Cup.”
Leading South Africa to the globe’s biggest sporting event would be quite an achievement. After all, the nation have only qualified for the World Cup on two occasions before being entered automatically as hosts in 2010.
However, there’s little doubt that Coetzee, a technically gifted centre-half who should fit right in under Brendan Rodgers at Celtic, is one of the most talented young defenders to emerge from Africa in recent years.
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