Kaizer Chiefs head coach Nasreddine Nabi has weighed in on the debate over Gaston Sirino possibly being called up to the Bafana Bafana squad after an impressive start to the Betway Premiership season.
Having been playing professionally in South Africa for over five years, Sirino has dual citizenship and is eligible to be called up to Bafana having never represented Uruguay.
READ | 'No one will sleep' - Nabi to Chiefs fans after SSU defeat
The attacking midfielder has had a sensational start to the season, contributing three assists and two goals from five appearances, and unsurprisingly, some sections of the fanbase have entertained the possibility of Sirino donning national colours.
Although he was not in top form on Saturday as Chiefs fell 1-0 to SuperSport United, with Bafana head coach Hugo Broos in the stands, Nabi has backed calls for his key attacker to be included in Bafana.
"We believe that the national coach was not here only for Sirino because in SuperSport and Kaizer Chiefs, there are many players who play for Bafana Bafana and those are his players," Nabi said, via translator and assistant coach Cedric Kaze.
"If Sirino was part of the players he came to observe, unfortunately, it was not a good day for him to show his value because he has been injured this whole week.
"He trained once this week. We wanted to start him to see what he can give us, but we were very aware that he was not fully fit. If Sirino is fully fit, we feel he deserves to play with Bafana Bafana."
ALSO READ | 'It was difficult to leave Chiefs'
The former Mamelodi Sundowns star has previously said he would be more than happy to don the Bafana jersey should a call-up come his way, while Broos has cited the player's age as the major reason behind not calling him up.
"Sirino is 32 (now 33), which means in two years he will be 34," Broos said when quizzed on the issue last year.
"I don't think it is a good idea [to include him in the Bafana] because maybe you can have him for [2023] AFCON, then you have to look for another player; because will he be as good as he is now in 2026? I don't know, we will see.