Teenage Hadebe’s struggles are becoming visible after the defender was dropped to the bench for the third successive time on Sunday.

The 25-year old has started in the Yeni Malatyaspor first XI only once in six matches, playing a total of mere 105 minutes so far. He sat out the for the entire game in the previous outing and was again an unused sub in the 2-1 victory versus Genclerbirligi.

Hadebe only had injury issues in early September when he missed the opening round of the season due to a minor knock.

His troubles seem to have emanated from the arrival of three other centre backs this term who have brought more competition in the backline. The new signings include Brazilian Wallace and Semih Kaya, who have been paired together in recent games, and Gökhan Akkan.

And with the back-to-back Afcon qualifies against Algeria on the horizon, Hadebe’s lack of game time is now sounding an SOS and, hopefully, he picks his best form ahead of the next month assignments.

The Zimbabwe international was one of the few foreign-based stars in the Warriors team that played a goalless draw with Malawi during the October international break.