New Pirates ‘finisher’ Pedersen is not yet 100% fit: Ouaddou

Orlando Pirates fans may have to wait a little bit longer to see new Norwegian striker Sebastian Pedersen on the pitch in the famous black and white colours.

This is because Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has revealed that the 27-year-old “finisher” was still not 100% fit. Pedersen joined Pirates from his native Norwegian club Sogndal, who campaign in the second tier in the Scandinavian nation.

“He’s very happy to join Pirates. We’ve seen a lot of happiness and excitement from him at training. We can definitely see that he has the quality to finish. I don’t need one month to see that he’s a finisher,” Ouaddou said at a press conference in Fairland, Johannesburg, on Thursday.

“Now the question is around putting his qualities on the table, but it’s important to be fit and in that area he’s not 100%. The performance department is working closely with him in order to have him fully ready. I want to see him on the pitch, but as a coach I can’t just throw him into the fire.”

Ouaddou stressed the importance of integration and adaptation before the new “finisher” is given a chance at Bucs.

“I am very cautious because I was once in that situation ... when you are in a new environment as a professional footballer, there’s time for integration,” the Pirates coach said. “There’s this stress when you discover a new environment ... you have to eat differently, so a lot of things change. It’s more of a mental thing, and we have to be careful because we don’t want to risk him getting injured.”

Pirates’ focus is on Sekhukhune United as they play them in the first leg of the MTN8 semifinals at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday. Pirates and Sekhukhune will lock horns again in the league at Orlando Amstel Arena three days later, before the second leg at the same venue on August 29.

“We just have to stick to our principles, our way of playing football. You know we are not too focused on the opponent even when we study them,” Ouaddou said.