Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi has painfully admitted that there is no doubt that Lucas Ribeiro Costa can win the Footballer of the Season award and it is a player he would love to have.

This was after the Brazilian attacker drilled home a stunning goal against Amakhosi in the Betway Premiership match at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday. 

The former Beveren winger has been an influential player for Miguel Cardoso’s side this season in all competitions. Ribeiro is currently the top goal scorer in the Betway Premiership with 12 goals after 18 games. 

 “He [Ribeiro] is indeed a player that every coach would dream to have in his team because he is a different maker,” Nabi said when Sportswire asked him. 

“It’s good for the league to have those kind of foreign players, because it allows the league as well to be more attractive to sponsors and people who are watching. 

“Besides being a good football player, I think he is a good human being and there’s nothing you can take away from him and I think he deserves it [Footballer of the Season award].” 

The Phefeni Glamour Boys were playing their third game against Sundowns this season on Saturday. Although Chiefs lost all these three games, but the former AS FAR coach believes that his team put in a good shift in all games, especially on Saturday, but luck was not on their side. 

 “It’s true that if you compare the three games we’ve played against Sundowns, the first game, I believe that if it was not referees’ mistakes we were not going to lose 2-1,” Nabi said. 

 “The second game of which it was a (Carling Knockout) Cup game, I will say that it was a complete day for us in every way. About today’s game, I think it was just bad luck to lose this game because we had a great performance. 

“But we have as well to put those three games in the context, in talking about a context of a team that hasn’t won a Cup in 10 years. 

“We were playing against a team that has been champions seven times in a row, and they are a team that is on top in the African football. But according to the way we played today, you could not say there’s a huge difference between us and them in the log. 

 “I think we are in a good way to make ourselves better for the future.” 

 Amakhosi will now face Magesi in their next league game at FNB Stadium on Tuesday. These two sides played a 2-2 draw in the first round in Polokwane last year.