In 2003 Michael Nkambule, fourteen at the time, travelled with the Kaizer Chiefs u-15 team to Northern Ireland for the Milk Cup, his tournament started off in the worst fashion when he misplaced his passport.

It was soon found and returned to him and he led the Chiefs u-15’s all the way to the tournament semifinals. Nkambule’s success at the Milk Cup saw him make his way out of the Chiefs academy and he joined the youth programme of French Ligue 1 side Racing Strasbourg. The young, well-travelled midfielder returned to South Africa for a short loan spell with SuperSport United last season, before returning to Strasbourg.

He returned to South Africa recently for the COSAFA U-20 tournament and returned to the team that he joined as a twelve year old, as he put pen to paper and signed a three year contract with Chiefs which goes into effect on the 1st January 2008 and runs up until the final day of 2010. Nkambule will effectively officially become a Chiefs player when the January transfer window opens; he has already begun training with the Chiefs first team.

All we need

Amakhosi coach Muhsin Ertugral long a preacher for blooding young players has welcomed Nkambule with open arms, and has spoken highly of the young midfielder who was recently named as the COSAFA U-20 player of the tournament. Ertugral said “Michael is a talented young boy he had a wonderful tournament for the South Africa u-20 team in the COSAFA youth championships and he is everything we would want in a player”.

Sound experience

Chiefs team manager Bobby Motaung believes that the experienced gained by Nkambule in France with Strasbourg will stand him in good stead when he makes his debut for Chiefs some time in the New Year.

“Michael in four years has played in Europe and shown his talents in the African U-17 championships and was the star for Amajita in the recent COSAFA U-20 tournament, so he definitely has the experience to compete in the PSL.

"He knows the culture of the club having been here before with our youth system which fundamentally means he knows what it means to play for Chiefs, we are confident in Michael we have a player who will over the next few seasons feature regularly for the club and we are happy to have him back home”.