‘Drogba’ was set to have joined Arrows on a three-year deal, but a last-minute ‘communication breakdown’ meant the player is still stuck at Bucs, where he saw little game-time last season.
Ertugral feels it is a massive opportunity lost for both the club and Ndulula himself.
“I would have liked to have him in the team, but I don’t know where the communication broke down,” Ertugral tells KickOff.com.
“It would have been a good opportunity for a young player to get more game-time, but perhaps he wanted to prove himself at Pirates. We understand it’s a big club and these boys forget about their young years, where they need to play and that sitting in the stands won’t help them.
“Sometimes you go two steps back to go one step forward. So whatever reason he chose to stay at Pirates I don’t know, but I hope that he’ll get more game-time.”
Now in their third week of pre-season, Arrows’ squad looks rather bare following the expiry of several players’ loan deals, but Ertugral is confident the young players at the club can pull them through.
“We lost a lot of players and now we need to bring new faces to the team,” he says. “We also have to give the young players a chance to play. I think the team was too old, but we have kept a few players with experience in the team.”
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