Bloemfontein Celtic are in no hurry to field Tokelo Rantie, who has been training with the Free State side, according to coach Lehlohonolo Seema.
After having his contract terminated by Mamelodi Sundowns at the turn of the year, Rantie has been clubless, and is currently trying his luck at Celtic.
However, despite being a free agent and eligible to be registered to play for the remainder of this season, Rantie has not been registered by the club amidst ongoing concerns about his fitness levels.
“He is training with the team, we are still assessing him,” Seema told Far Post. “Of course, it’s been long since he was out, so fitness-wise, we are still waiting on him and we don’t want to assess him when he is not that fit.
"[The] first thing that we are working on it is that he is in a good condition so that we can give him fair judgment, assessment.
“It depends on him how hard he works," Seema continued. "It’s not a problem, if it happens it will happen this year or else he needs to keep on going, then we see if it’s taking longer, then we’ll see…we’ll give him a chance, that’s all that we can say, we’ll give him a chance."
However, Seema is not completely ruling out using Rantie before the season's end, subject to the player's fitness levels.
“If it happens that, condition-wise, he is becoming better and better and we like what we see, then it can happen this season," the coach added, "but if not, then he can push up until end of the season and then he does pre-season with us and then we see.
"As for quality, we don’t doubt him at all."
Celtic are currently ninth on the PSL log after 22 matches.