Orlando Pirates are said to be closing in on a deal to lure Andile Jali back to the club, but his agent Mike Makaab has stated that nothing has been decided yet on his future.
Jali, 33, parted ways with Sundowns after winning five DStv Premiership titles, the Telkom Knockout, MTN8 and two Nedbank Cup titles in five seasons.
He also won the PSL Midfielder of the Season in 2020/21 and was firmly considered as one of the finest players in the South African top flight.
However, things changed in the campaign that passed, with the player initially losing his spot in the first eleven with the Sundowns technical team looking towards a new tactical system in which Teboho Mokoena was selected as the preferred player in the six role.
Jali featured in 15 games before January, and never featured again before his official exit was confirmed by the league champions last month – which coincided with talks that he is set to rejoin the Buccaneers, who finished runners-up to Sundowns, along with a domestic double of the MTN8 and Nedbank Cup under head coach Jose Riveiro.
“No [he has not joined a new club], not as yet, but we hope for more clarity next week. We are now actively in talks with other clubs, as you can imagine there’s lots of interest,” Makaab tells iDiski Times.
“It’s just a matter of making sure that both the football club and the player are happy, not only financially but from a sporting perspective too. We wanted to finalise everything first with Sundowns, which has been done.
“And now that it has been finalised we are free to turn our attention to the next move and you don’t want to make a mistake [with his future]. There’s been a lot of speculation, if you read into that, you would assume the negotiations are far advanced which isn’t true.”
Jali won two league titles, two MTN8 crowns, one Telkom Knockout and one Nedbank Cup title during his stint at Pirates between 2009 and 2014 before earning a move to KV Oostende in Belgium.
Story by Lorenz Kohler (@Lorenz_KO).
