UK-based starlet eyes Zebras break
Mqondisi Dube | Wednesday June 11, 2014 06:00
Interestingly, Butler is a former player of Southend United, the current club of the 16-year-old midfielder. Batlokwa has received rave reviews in the UK and has declared he is ready to do duty for the Zebras. The player who turns 17 in December left the country at the age of 10 and settled in London.
He had trials at Arsenal while playing for the Under-13 squad. Batlokwa anxiously awaits his chance to be part of the Zebras set-up. “As long as the managers think I am ready, then I believe I can do my best to make my country proud,” he told Mmegi Sport.
He is described as a skillful midfielder who creates loads of chances for strikers. Batlokwa is a product of the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) development programme, Re Ba Bona Ha. He started football at a young age of six and was part of the Notwane youth team.
He moved to the UK when he was 10 and joined Essex Thurrock. Batlokwa has been described as a player who can change the game in an instant.
Southend United manager, Ricky Duncan is full of praise for him. “He is an exceptional player, very gifted. He is technical and has a bright future. Definitely he can be an asset to the Botswana national team,” Duncan told Mmegi Sport from the UK yesterday.
Batlokwa is inching closer to a professional contract, which would see him break into the first team. The Southend United first team campaigns in League Two.In one of his recent matches, his coach Dave Huzzey had this to say about him:
“Renei, who played in centre-midfield, was different class today. He’s a player that we’re all really excited to work with next year; he didn’t look like an Under-16s player playing in a youth team game.
However, physically, he is and he did get out-muscled, but technically and tactically he’s brilliant”.