Hunt to resurrect Nurkovic, provided he stays injury-free
Samir Nurkvic and Gavin Hunt could be a match made in heaven in their reunion. But the duo will need a pinch of luck to get the best out of each other.
Nurkovic recently joined SuperSport United on a one-and-a-half-year deal, reuniting with Hunt who coached him temporarily at Kaizer Chiefs.
The legendary SA born tactician arrived at Chiefs for the 2020/21 season, but Nurkovic was injured for the first few months, forcing Hunt to tap into youngsters.
It was a huge set-back for Hunt as Nurkovic was Chiefs’ best player in the previous season. Hence, his services were needed as Chiefs were slapped with a transfer ban under Hunt as well.
The Serbian would come out of the medical room midway through that season, contributing with six goals and four assists across 32 games in all competitions.
Hunt would go on to be sacked by Chiefs towards the end of the season, and Nurkovic only played most of the games in the second half of the season due to a knee injury in the season thereafter.
The 32-year-old was released by Chiefs two seasons ago, and he resurfaced at Royal AM where he didn’t make a single appearance as he was released due to a niggling injury.
Nurkovic’s abrupt departure from Thwihli Thwahla brought the club into hot water as they were ordered to pay him a sum of R12 million or face a Fifa ban from the governing body.
The Shauwn “MaMkhize” Mkhize owned club decided to go for the latter. As a result, the money they owe to Nurkovic is said to have accumulated interest in recent years.
Nurkovic, though, joined his second team in the top-flight last season, TS Galaxy. He had an impressive stint with the club, scoring 10 goals across 29 appearances.
His time with the Rockets was short-lived, hence he’s found a new club at SuperSport where he’s only expected to make his debut after the January transfer window.
The fact that Nurkovic will only don the Spartan’s jersey from the new year is mind-blogging given the fact that he has joined the club as a free agent.
However, in the bigger scheme of things, Hunt might want him to regain fitness before throwing him in the deep end or it could speak more of his problems with injuries.
If it’s the former, Hunt might have to reconsider not playing Nurkovic till January. He needs all the help he could get up front as goals have dried up since the loss of Bradley Grobler to an injury.
Matsantsantsa a Pitori have only scored three goals in nine games this season, while goalkeeper Ricardo Goss has conceded 12 goals during that time.
But if Nurkovic is injured that could spell more bad news for Hunt. Something they’ll hope that they can be able to pin-point and try to rectify till he finishes his stint with the club.
You see, Nurkovic’s quality is undeniable. He can score goals across boards, and that’s why he’d fit into Hunt’s setup which is more reliant on a natural No 9 to cater for his counterattacks.
Tashreeq Morris has scored one goal since his arrival from Sekhukhune United, where he was released. And while he had a bright start to life at Cape Town City, he wasn’t clinical at Sekhukhune.
SuperSport also bolstered their striking unit with the services of Mamelodi Sundowns attacker Abubeker Nasir who arrived on loan late last month.
However, just like Nurkovic, Nasir has had a myriad of injury issues that curtailed his number of starts to six for the Brazilians and 19 appearances across all competitions.
He scored four goals that time, including against SuperSport in September 2022. But should he and Nurkovic have better luck with injuries, they could be of good use to Hunt going forward.
Meanwhile, another former Chiefs star and forward Keagan Dolly was yesterday unveiled by Galaxy as their new player. Dolly’s contract details are yet to be unveiled by the Rockets.