Kaizer Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp has assessed the progress of their new signings and provided an update as to why James Kotei has yet to make his club debut.

Chiefs brought in four new signings early on in the transfer window as they looked to reinforce the midfield and attack, before also adding defender Yagan Sasman later on.

So far though, only Lazarous Kambole and Samir Nurkovic have had full runs, having started and finished both of their opening Absa Premiership clashes thus far, while Kearyn Baccus made his debut but only totalled 52 minutes thus far.

Middendorp has since defended the relatively slow start of the quartet, while explaining the situation of Kotei that has seen him yet to make his first appearance.

“It is not unusual that players need a bit more time, and good, I’m very happy about [their progress so far],” said Middendorp.

“Even Lazarous Kambole is not at his best that he can bring to us, but Samir is so far a very confident type of player, knowing the professional setup.

“Lazarous is close to him; Kearyn Baccus is a bit behind, having come in later – he was not with us from the beginning [of pre-season] – and, of course, James Kotei is in a similar case.

“We have to look into how far we can give them a little bit of time, and I think with the options in different areas that we have, we can provide them that time to bring them in and to really adapt.”