A former coach of Fawaaz Basadien has detailed how he took the defender from not playing to being chased by Kaizer Chiefs whilst with Stellenbosch FC.
Basadien was one of the players that were snapped up in a player exodus at Moroka Swallows at the end of the 2021/22 season, after the side had finished 15th on the log and saved their top-flight status via the play-offs.
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Other players who showed good potential at the Dube Birds during that campaign included the likes of Kamohelo Mahlatsi, Dillan Solomons and George Matlou, who were signed by Chiefs all at once.
The coach who got the best out of the budding stars at the now defunct club during that season is Dylan Kerr, who revealed that when he arrived there, Basadien was not playing and that he was not even a left-back, having joined from Steenberg United as a midfielder.
"I took Basadien and played him at left-back. He was not a left-back. Look at him now, Chiefs are after him," Kerr told KickOff in an interview.
"He scored one of the best goals of the season against Cape Town City [in a 3-0 win on 25 September]. To beat Darren Keet from that distance takes some doing. He probably never slept for two days after that, ha, ha.
"But Basadien was not playing at Swallows. I played him at left-back because of his engine, his quality. Steve Barker saw that, took him from Swallows, now there's a bidding war for him, people want him," he continued.
According to Soccer Laduma, Stellies rejected a R10 million offer for the 27-year-old.
However, Kerr was skeptical the Cape Winelands outfit would reject such a high bid.
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"If that was on the table, Stellenbosch would have taken it."
Basadien is still under a long-term contract, the extension of which he signed in January, at Stellenbosch.