Agent: Virgil Vries joined Kaizer Chiefs to compete

New Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Virgil Vries is good enough to challenge Itumeleng Khune for the number one spot.

This is according to Vries' agent Jazzman Mahlakgane, who has disclosed that he had to convince Baroka FC to sign the 27-year-old shot-stopper.

Amakhosi surprisingly announced the signing of the Namibia international on Monday after he was he deemed surplus to requirements at Bakgaka, who released him last week.

Vries signed a three-year contract with the Soweto giants as a replacement for Brilliant Khuzwayo, who has joined Amakhosi's rivals Orlando Pirates.

The well-travelled keeper was released by Maritzburg United at the end of the 2016/17 season, and Mahlakgane managed to facilitate a move to Baroka for Vries. 

"I always tell my players the truth; I told him there was no club interested [in him]," Mahlakgane told SowetanLive. 

"When I met with Baroka chairman Khurishi Mphahlele and the CEO, Morgan Mamilla, they were still not convinced," he continued. 

"It was a big battle because they were still not convinced. I remember at some point the deal was off, but I asked them to give him just six months and, when they won the Premiership Q-Innovation One, he's one of the players that helped them," he said.

The player's business manager believes that Vries is capable of playing at the highest level and compete with Chiefs' captain Itumeleng Khune for a place in the team's starting line-up.

"When he joined Baroka, I told him he must take it as the start of big things [to come] for himself, not [to look at it] as a step back," he said.

"With a move to Chiefs, I told him: 'You are not here to be a back-up, you are here to compete'," Mahlakgane concluded. 

Vries follows in the footsteps of his countrymen Mohamed Ouseb and Robert Nauseb, who played for Amakhosi in the PSL era.