Former Kaizer Chiefs assistant coach Farouk Khan has said that South Africa is not exporting enough talent to Europe because there is lack of proper development in the youth structures of the game.
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In an with KickOff, Khan, who runs Stars of Africa Academy, said that clubs as well as SAFA should invest more into youth development.
"I think the main problem we have is that we lack development in our young players. How many players have really gone through development and have made it into so called big teams or move to Europe?" Khan questioned to KickOff.
"Look at players like May Mahlangu, Tokelo Rantie, Surprise Ralani and Patrick Maswanganyi. They all went to Europe without proper development locally. Some of them made it and they did well but others didn't and came back. But if we can have proper development at club level, then we can have many good players representing our country abroad and building a strong national team as well,."
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However, on the issue of the national team, Khan lamented that most youngsters who deserve to be in the junior national teams are not given the chance because the selectors don't even know them.
"I have always asked how the under-17 or under-20 national team players are selected. There are many good young players from different academies who are not looked at and players from only a few clubs are selected.
"I would like to see the selectors looking at almost all the academies in all the provinces and give those youngsters the chance. There are many good players out there, not just from few clubs where they are normally selected from," Khan concluded.