Fernando da Cruz will need time to prove himself at Kaizer Chiefs - Brian Baloyi

The French former Mouscron, Lille and AS FAR mentor replaces co-coaches Cedric Kaze and Khalil Ben Youssef, who have since joined Sekhukhune United and Durban City.

The duo led Amakhosi to an impressive third-place finish in the South African top-flight last season after taking over from Nasreddine Nabi, who was in charge when they won the Nedbank Cup the season before.

Baloyi spent over 10 years playing for Chiefs and while he admits he doesn't know too much about the new coach, he will reserve his judgement until Da Cruz has had a chance to prove himself.

"I don't know much [about Da Cruz], and it will be premature for me [to start judging him]," Baloyi said in the Sowetan.

"Dr Kaizer [Motaung] was able to do this for many years, where he would come with a coach nobody knew — Dolezar, Troussier, Ertugral, Baxter — but you can't bank on [new coaches being successful] all the time.

"One of the things in the last few years that we were not able to do that we used to do very well was to unearth talent from the juniors.

"Our development has been excellent, but there is that missing piece where once those players are in the first team, they are able to go [elsewhere]."

Da Cruz was most recently employed as technical manager for the Morocco national team.

"You need a coach that understands and knows how to [retain talent] because unfortunately, we can't rely on [buying expensive players]," added Baloyi.

"We are not Sundowns, and we know it's an open secret that when Chiefs want players, the selling price becomes different. [For instance], it has been evident that Pirates bought [Oswin] Appollis for way less than what Chiefs had put on the table."