Luke Baartman's Rise: From No.9 to Modern Football Weapon
Luke Baartman is suddenly the noise around Naturena.
The 20-year-old, once tagged as a classic penalty-box number nine, has exploded into the 2026/27 Premier Soccer League season and forced his name into every Kaizer Chiefs conversation. On Wednesday night at FNB Stadium, he underlined that rise again, coolly scoring in a sharp 2-0 win over Sekhukhune United – his first goal of the new campaign and another marker of how far he has come in a year.
Last season, he barely featured. Seven appearances, flashes of promise, little rhythm. Now he looks like a different footballer.
From fixed No.9 to modern weapon
The transformation has come under Fernando Da Cruz, who took one look at Baartman’s profile and refused to keep him chained to the middle of the pitch.
Top-flight football, the Frenchman insists, no longer belongs to specialists who live in one area.
“Modern football now requires players who are able to play in many positions,” Da Cruz told FARPost, laying out the thinking behind shifting Baartman away from his traditional central role.
“For a young player like Luke Baartman, it’s important to give him different tools to be able to play in different positions.
The most important thing for him is to read the game, for example, knowing what to do when he receives the ball in different situations of the game.”
The message is clear: movement, intelligence, adaptability. Baartman is no longer just a target in the box; he is being built into a forward who can drift wide, drop into pockets, and stretch defences in different ways.
Spain tour changes the conversation
The bold positional tweak was not a gamble taken in the dark. Chiefs’ coaching staff had already seen enough.
During the club’s high-profile pre-season tour of Spain, Baartman caught the eye. Against European opposition, he showed he was far more than a finisher waiting for service. His touch, awareness and willingness to run for the team convinced the technical team that they could ask more of him.
In Europe, they saw a player who could link play, press from the front and still arrive in the box with menace. That tour effectively rewrote his job description at Amakhosi.
Talent, humility and a hungry mind
Da Cruz is not only banking on Baartman’s feet and pace. He keeps returning to the young striker’s mentality.
“It’s a player with good technical qualities and also a player with good explosiveness when he plays football,” the coach said, highlighting the blend of skill and power that makes Baartman so dangerous.
“He is a young player and, for the moment, he listens to what the coaches ask of him, which is very important to me.
The most important thing for young players is to listen to what the coach wants, because sometimes young players think that they are experienced.
But Luke is very focused and knows what the coach expects from him.”
In a landscape where early hype can derail young careers, that willingness to listen and learn might be his sharpest weapon. Chiefs believe they have a rare combination on their hands: a forward with the tools and the temperament to handle the spotlight.
Managing the storm of fixtures
The challenge now is to protect him from the schedule.
Chiefs are stretched across four fronts this season: the Premier Soccer League, CAF Confederation Cup, Carling Knockout and Nedbank Cup. For a 20-year-old still growing into his body and his role, that is a heavy load.
Inside Naturena, both the medical and technical teams are on alert. They know the temptation: ride the hot hand, keep picking the in-form youngster, squeeze every drop out of this purple patch. Da Cruz is resisting that urge.
“As an experienced coach, I know that I cannot ask Luke to perform at a high level throughout the whole season,” he admitted.
“Sometimes he will need to recover, so we need to support him at different times of the season.”
So while the fans sing his name and the goals begin to stack up, Chiefs are trying to play the long game. The club wants Baartman sharp in April and May, not just electric in August.
If they get that balance right, this early surge might not be a brief spark. It might be the start of Kaizer Chiefs’ next great No.9 story, rewritten for the modern game.
