Durban — Sundowns have shown their intent to continue dominating South African football by acquiring the services of Chile international Marcelo Allende.
The 23-year-old joins Masandawana following a two year spell in Uruguay with Montevideo City Torque. An attacking midfielder by trade, Allende is highly rated.
He previously captained the Chile youth team at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup and has been capped by the Chile senior national team.
By signing Allende, Sundowns have also continued their recent trend of signing respected players from outside the African continent. They also boast Pavol Safranko who has been capped by Slovakia and Erwin Saavedra who has been capped by Bolivia.
After joining Masandawana earlier in the year, Saavedra has had a challenging first few months in South Africa having to contend with injury issues which have kept him out of action. The 26-year-old will be looking to firmly establish himself in the side next season.
Sundowns are also clearly looking to finally land a first CAF Champions League title since 2016 next term. They have also signed Ronwen Williams and Sipho Mbule while they have been strongly tipped to sign Ethiopian international Abubeker Nassir and Abdelmounaim Boutoil who hails from Morocco.
Bafana Bafana first-choice goalkeeper and captain Williams is expected to dispatch Sundowns legend Denis Onyango as the club’s first-choice goalie next season. The 30-year-old is at the prime of his powers and will be hoping that his move across Gauteng can help him finally land a league title, something that he failed to achieve with SuperSport despite being in the first team for almost 12-years.
Meanwhile, in another part of the world, Bafana Bafana’s Thibang Phete has left Portugal based club Belenenses and joined UAE based second tier club Al Bataeh Sharjah Football Club. The 28-year-old was a mainstay in the Belenenses side for two years.
He has been called up to Bafana Bafana squads under Hugo Broos but based on the fact that the UAE second tier is not really considered to be of a high standard, it may be difficult for the Belgian to continue calling him up.
Phete is not the only South African who currently plies his trade in the UAE. Another is veteran midfielder Thulani Serero who currently plays for Al Jazira in the UAE Pro League.
IOL Sport