NAIROBI, Kenya, January 17- Former Sony Sugar striker Hussein Puzzo has joined KCB for the 2011 Kenya Premier League (KPL) season.
The national Under-20 player is amongst the 15 new players signed up by the bankers as coach Leonard Saleh seeks to redress the imbalance which he believes almost got his side relegated last term.
“This time we have got mature players who have played for sometime. Last year we had very young players who got excited after a win and forget their direction the following week,” Saleh told Capital Sport on Monday.
“We decided to lay off some players while others decided to transfer. I think we (KCB) now have mature players who now understand what is required of them because we lacked consistency last year and we don’t want to repeat the same this year,” he added.
The green shirts escaped the drop by the skin of their teeth after winning nine games, losing 15 and drawing six.
Their hopes of mounting a strong challenge this year were rocked by Ezekiel Odera’s stunning decision to seek greener pastures at Gor Mahia.
“It’s a big blow for us to lose Odera because of his finishing ability. I also think he’s too young to make such a move because he needed to grow being only 20 years old . I think this year he could have played better football with us than at Gor,” said Saleh.
“All the same we have young players in the team who we will shape and hope will do better that what Odera did for us,” he added.
Saleh is well aware of the task that comes with forging a capable unit after a huge influx of new players but is confident that the team will be in sync once the season kicks off.
“It’s my duty to make sure that by the time we start the league, the team is well geld. But I think by the time we play our fourth or fifth match, the team will be okay and we’ll be in good shape.”
Saleh said that he is still assessing the players who are in camp and that the numbers will be trimmed by the end of the week.
“We started our preparations in December with trials which over 200 players attended. Then we trimmed the number down to 30. We hope by Friday we will have selected the final 24 players,” said Saleh.
The bankers will play a pre season friendly against Bidco at the KCB Sports Club on Saturday.
Follow the author on http://twitter.com/wekesa
