‘Diamond’ Amrouche can work wonders at Kaizer Chiefs – Ditlhokwe

SuperSport United defender Thatayaone Ditlhokwe has described reported Kaizer Chiefs target Adel Amrouche as a “diamond” who could turn around the Soweto giants if appointed as coach.

Amrouche who is the current Botswana coach has his name surprisingly surface as a possible candidate to replace Ernst Middendorp who was recently sacked by Chiefs.

While Gavin Hunt is largely touted as the frontrunner to be appointed Chiefs coach, Amrouche’s name is gaining momentum considerably.

Ditlhokwe who has worked under the Algerian with the Zebras, paints a gloomy picture at the prospect of Botswana losing their coach, a development he says would herald a new era of success at Naturena.

“If he goes to Kaizer Chiefs… yah we would be in trouble in Botswana because we would have lost a diamond… he could help us as a small country to write our names all over the continent. I really believe that with him anything is possible for us,” Ditlhokwe told Phakaaathi.

“He is capable of turning Chiefs around and working wonders because of the players that they have. He knows how to work with players to get the best out of them. He is friendly and acts as a father but once he gets onto the field and it’s time for work, it’s time to work nothing else.”

Amrouche has vast experience, having worked as a coach both in Europe and around the African continent.

Before taking up the Botswana post, he had worked with four other national teams: Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, Kenya and Libya.

An edge Amrouche could be having over Hunt is his experience around the continent not only with the national team, but at club level too.

Having coached in Caf inter-club competitions with his home teams USM Alger and MC Alger as well as Congolese side Daring club Motema Pembe, albeit with limited success, he could be viewed as the right coach to guide Chiefs in Africa.

Ditlhokwe has a lot of praise for his national team coach.

“He’s impressive, for an example, I can tell you that since his arrival we haven’t had much time but the little time we have spent with him we were impressed because he turned the team around quite quickly,” said Ditlhokwe.

“He knows how to manage the players, how to groom a player and how to instill team spirit. When he sees that you’ve lost your confidence, he works on you to redeem your confidence.

“Since he came here, we’ve played against the big teams like Egypt, Algeria and Zimbabwe and you couldn’t really differentiate between us and those teams because we were able to match them even though we don’t have that much quality.”