Highly rated goalkeeper Jody February, who’s on loan at Swallows from Mamelodi Sundowns, has set his sights on being in Bafana Bafana's set-up in the near future.

February has not played a competitive Premiership game since May 2018, where he featured for Ajax Cape Town before joining Sundowns the following year.

The 25-year-old shot-stopper found playing opportunities hard to come by at Chloorkop, with Denis Onyango, Kennedy Mweene, Reyaad Pieterse and even latest recruit Ricardo Goss always ahead of him in the pecking order.

Being at Swallows, where he must dethrone Virgil Vries to claim the No1 jersey, has reinvigorated February. The former SA youth international oozes optimism that he’s closer to achieving his dream to play for Bafana under coach Hugo Broos.

“I believe it’s possible for me to be in Bafana in the next few months, especially with the new coach who’s now looking for a younger crop of players,’’ February told Sowetan.

“It’s been a tough couple of years for me but sometimes you need to go through these things [referring to his lack of game time] to get to your dreams. I have been through the junior ranks and the last box to tick is Bafana. So I will fight very hard to achieve that in the near future.”

The lad from the Mother City relishes the battle for the No1 jersey between him and Vries, with another experienced keeper, Thela Ngobeni also in the picture at Swallows.

“Healthy competition always brings the best out of any player. As you can see Virgil is doing very well [having kept] three clean sheets from four games. We’re pushing each other...whoever plays we support him and right now Virgil is doing very well,’’ February said.

“I just have to be ready in case anything happens. Not saying I want anything to happen to Virgil, but I am ready to play. I just have to keep myself at a certain level of professionalism and continue working hard, waiting for my chance.”