JOHANNESBURG - What Gustavo Paez lacked in eloquence, his coach Steve Komphela made up for when Kaizer Chiefs unveiled the 26-year-old on Thursday.
The Venezuela-born striker, who holds an Italian passport, tried to string together a few words in English after he was handed jersey No28.
“I am very happy to be here. This is a very big team. I will try to do my best here, for me and the team. I want to be an important player at Kaizer Chiefs, for the club, the fans and the history of the team,” Paez said.
Paez's true test at Amakhosi will not be how eloquent he is, but what he says when he lets his feet do the talking. So far his well-travelled feet have been mute. He arrives in the country without having reached double figures in his time, mainly in the lower leagues of Peru, Venezuela, Slovenia, Italy and Spain.
Some fans have already nicknamed him “Ma 11”, after seeing that he scored 11 goals in 11 years. Other sources put his goals tally at 13 and 19.
Regardless of which is true, none of those numbers inspire confidence in a period when Chiefs need a prolific goalscorer. The lack of such a player saw the club stumble in their league defence last season. In this campaign centre-back Lorenzo Gordinho is the club’s joint top goalscorer with three goals after 15 matches, which proves that Chiefs need a saviour who can put the ball in the back of the net regularly.
“As we make acquisitions, we put too much pressure on these stars,” Komphela warned. “He is not the answer but a solution. The minute we make him the answer, if goals aren’t coming, then he hasn’t solved the problem. He has the quality. He has all the attributes you want from a striker, fast, smart and has a good technique.”
“We shouldn’t put too much pressure on him (though). He is going to score. I hope it happens quickly. But we don’t want to put him under too much pressure that he ends up freezing. Give him time, though I know there is no time at Chiefs.”
The most recent South American sensation, Colombian Leonardo Castro, also didn’t come here with a prolific record. But Castro played at a higher level than Paez, featuring in the Copa Libertadores - South America’s equivalent of the CAF Champions League. Castro also didn’t come at a time when Mamelodi Sundowns needed a saviour, which allowed him time to settle in. Paez won’t have such luck, which is why Komphela wants to protect him as much as he can.
“If pressure was a language, it should be French to him and he speaks Spanish. He must just fit in, score and then turn the pressure to pleasure,” Komphela said.
Paez is eligible to make his debut for Amakhosi on Tuesday against Free State Stars at FNB Stadium. The lengthy break because of the Christmas recess and the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) came at a bad time for Chiefs, just as they were picking up speed to register back-to-back wins that pushed them to within a point behind leaders SuperSport United.