In recent weeks there was a lot of speculation regarding how Mamelodi Sundowns could bring their foreign quota down after the signing of Argentine player Matias Esquivel.
The Siya crew had previously reported how registering Divine Lunga as a local South African was one solution for the Brazilians. Lunga had acquired his Permanent Residence Permit (PRP) recently, and Soccer Laduma has been reliably informed that the Zimbabwean was registered as a local in Mamelodi Sundowns' match against Orlando Pirates on the weekend.
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He was expected to have joined the likes of Denis Onyango, Brian Onyango and Gaston Sirino in this regard, and played an important role as Sundowns drew 1-1 against rivals Bucs on Saturday.
Boutouil Abdelmounaim, Marcelo Allende, Lucas Ribeiro Costa, Junior Mendieta, Esquivel and Abubeker Nasir are registered as foreigners.
"The process of Divine (Lunga) being registered as a local player has been finalised. He will now be playing as a South African. He is not the first one at Sundowns or any other team (to do that)," said the Siya source.
"You know after spending five years in the country, legally, you are able to apply for the PRP and be registered as a local player. This will now open up space for other foreign players to be registered by the team as well. It's an advantage to the club for things like that.
"You know there are also other players already who qualified for that including Peter Shalulile, Gaston Sirino, Denis Onyango and Brian Onyango and that's why it seems like Sundowns have too many foreign players on their books," the source observed.
A second Siya source informed the Siya crew that even though Lunga is expected to have obtained his PRP, it doesn't mean it guarantees he will stay at the club in future.
"It's good he got the PRP but it doesn't mean he is staying at the team for good. It will all depend on the technical team whether they still want him or not as you know he has been requesting to be loaned out or released so that he can get some game time somewhere. The PRP would also help him to join any other team as a local player without them looking at the foreign quota and that works to his advantage but it's not a guarantee that he will stay at Sundowns now," the source told Soccer Laduma.
The 28-year-old Zimbabwean came to South Africa in July 2018 when he joined Golden Arrows from Chicken Inn of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. He moved to Mamelodi Sundowns in July 2021 though he hasn't been a regular and last season he was loaned back to Arrows where he played a good number of games before returning back to the Brazilians at the start of the current season.
So far this season, Lunga has only featured in one DStv Premiership league game and he's been helped by the fact that Bafana Bafana's 10 Sundowns players are taking a rest after their exertions in the Africa Cup of Nations.
This means Lunga could be an important player for the Brazilians for the rest of the season.
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