Pitso Mosimane has revealed that a number of foreign players at Mamelodi Sundowns are likely to get sacrificed due to the club’s large foreign contingency.
Masandawana mentor Mosimane faces a major headache selection ahead of the 2018-19 season, as the reigning Absa Premiership champions have eight foreign players on their books, with only five allotted foreign slots.
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This means that the Chloorkop side will have to prioritise their foreign lineup, which currently consists of Jeremy Brockie, Yannick Zakri, Gaston Sirino, Bangaly Soumahoro, Ricardo Nascimento and Razak Brimah, in addition to new signings Toni Silva and Jose Ali Meza.
When asked about the way forward, Jingles stated that only five players will be registered, with the rest likely to see the exit door or get loaned out.
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‘Last year everybody asked the same question. We only play with five, am I right? So five will be registered,’ he told Kickoff.
‘It’s a challenge, but we must find a solution. Some are likely to be sacrificed from the league squad, but they might play in Caf,’ he added.
It remains to be seen which players will be sacrificed, but a good indicator could be the players who were loaned out during the 2017-18 season, one of which is Ivorian attacker Yannick Zakri.
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The former Bafana Bafana mentor revealed that there is interest in Zakri.
‘Zakri did well at Ajax, he scored a few goals. We liked him, he’s a very good football player, which is why we bought him.
‘We have two proposals from outside the country because of how he did.
‘And we’ve also got another club locally that’s also interested but you can’t also rule out Ajax, if they stay in the PSL, that they wouldn’t want him,’ he said.
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The departure of defender Fares Hachi was also explained.
‘Hachi was sacrificed, not because of his game or because he’s not good but the position that he plays – we’ve got [Tebogo] Langerman,’ he explained.
‘To be honest, he wasn’t able to take Langerman out, and he’ll probably say, “But you haven’t given me more chances”.
‘But, with the chances he had, it was difficult to take Langa [Langerman] out. So, it’s just straight business. He has to be the best in his position.
‘When he came, we didn’t have anybody else, but now we also have [Siyabonga] Zulu, and we’ll rather have a local player to support Langerman than a foreigner,’ he concluded.
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Photo: Backpagepix
-This story originally appeared on SportsClub.co.za
