Kennedy Mweene full of praise for young Cassius Mailula

The Zambian goalminder has seen plenty of young talent coming through the ranks at Chloorkop over the years and reckons Mailula, 21, can follow in their footsteps.

Mweene says others like him have gone on to have impressive careers.

"I think he's not the first one, when we got to Sundowns the younger ones who also joined the team were Khama Billiat, Bongani Zungu, Percy Tau. I'm just happy that all those young ones that I'm talking about are still playing now and look at what they have achieved," he said.

A graduate of the Downs development programme, Mailula has scored 12 goals in 18 matches, while also adding four assists so far this season.

The youngster is being told to keep his feet on the ground, quite literally, Mweene explains.

"I think we always encourage Mailula to put his feet on the ground because he's got a lot of potential. He's got a bright future ahead of him. He'll be good as long as he keeps his feet on the ground," he added.

According to the 38-year-old, his young teammate is responding well to the advice coming from those who’ve been in the game longer.

"He listens and he acts on whatever you have said to him because he knows that I've been in the PSL since 2005. I don't even know where he was when I started playing PSL, he was possibly still very young," Mweene said.

Mailula has been touted as the front runner for the Premier Soccer League’s Young Player of the Season award, but Mweene has warned him not to get carried away by the hype.

"A lot of youngsters are getting it right at Sundowns because they've got us. We've seen it all in the PSL. We also advise them not to let the media overhype them," he concluded.