Tom Cairney of Fulham FC tackles Tom Barkhuizen (left) of Preston North End during the Sky Bet Championship match between Fulham and Preston North End at Craven Cottage on February 29, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Chloe Knott - Danehouse/Getty Images)
The 26 year-old, born in England could qualify to play for South Africa through his grandfather, though he has yet to apply for citizenship and would only be able to come to the camp as a tourist.
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“Thomas is a good player, we have been following him,” said Ntseki yesterday, on the 26 year-old, who has nine goals and four assists for Preston in the English Championship this season.
“We have clips of him playing for his team, I had a chat with Kamohelo Mokotjo (the Bafana midfielder) after they (Brentford) played Preston, without telling him why. He was very impressed with Thomas and the type of players he is.
“The (team) manager has done very well, we are now communicating with the club and agent and players on a daily basis. The plan was for me to go to England before this camp, but because of Coronavirus, the computers could not get a visa ready for me!
“We sent his agent an email to invite him to be part of this camp, to get a tourist visa so we can work with him at close range … for him to understand South African players and South Africa as a whole, so that when he goes back he can say he is happy and he wants to play in South Africa.
“Sometimes you want to bring someone here and get all the documents, but when he comes he decides here is not the place for him, so we decided to bring him to be part of the camp, and have training sessions with us. If that happens, when we leave for Sao Tome (Bafana play a second Group C game on March 31 in Sao Tome), then he will go back to his club.”
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