Downs free up foreign slot with loan deal

Mamelodi Sundowns have managed to free up at least one foreign spot after agreeing a loan deal for defender Divine Lunga.

According to SABC Sport sources, the Zimbabwe international is now set to move back to his old club Golden Arrows for the 2022/23 season and allow Sundowns to then register another international player in his place.

Downs had five registered foreigners on their books during the previous campaign including Lunga, Gaston Sirino (Uruguay), Pavol Safranko (Slovakia), Peter Shalulile (Namibia) and Ricardo Nascimento (Brazil) in the beginning.

Nascimento was then released halfway through the campaign, before joining Royal AM, to allow the club to bring in Bolivian attacker Erwin Saavedra.

With Moroccoan defender Abdelmounaim Boutouil set to arrive at Chloorkop from Raja Casablanca, having penned a five-year deal, the defending champions are yet again faced with a conundrum over foreign spots.

The Premier Soccer League only allows for clubs to register five non-South African players at a time - the only exception is if the international in question has been approved for a permanent residency permit (PRP).

In that case, the player can be registered as a local, which, according to information gathered by SABC Sport, is what Sundowns are in the process of doing with Shalulile before the deadline on September 22.

Lunga™s imminent move to Arrows will definitely free up one slot, while attempts to get Shalulile his PRP will add another and then probably give Downs the greenlight to confirm Boutouil as their latest signing.

However, reports in Chile have indicated that the domestic champions have also signed midfielder Marcelo Allende, meaning he too will take up a foreign spot unless he has assets in the region of R7-million or more invested in South Africa to be handed citizenship, like former defender and Dutch international Alje Schut.

Should that fail, then the Lunga deal as well as a PRP document for Shalulile should be enough for the Brazilians.

By Mazola Molefe