Following the shock departure of Bongani Zungu and revelations around the status of Abubeker Nasir, another Mamelodi Sundowns player is set to part ways with the club, KickOff can exclusively reveal.
Zungu revealed his departure from the serial champions in an Instagram post, which was then confirmed by head coach Rulani Mokwena.
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Mokwena, in a PowerFM interview, confirmed the departure of Zungu, whose contract is coming to an end on 30 June.
The Brazilians had an option to extend and decided against keeping the former Amiens midfielder.
In the same interview, the 37-year-old tactician left Sundowns supporters with more questions than answers after stating that Nasir was not registered as a Masandawana player, although he did not explicitly confirm his exit.
This publication can now exclusively reveal that another player who will be taken off the Tshwane giants' roster ahead of the new season is striker Jerome Karelse.
Indications from sources are that Karelse will be free to join a club of his choice from next month after Sundowns did not exercise an option to keep him at the club beyond 30 June.
With his contract coming to an end this month, news reaching this publication, from a well-placed source, is that the club did not trigger an option they had on his deal a month prior to the expiry of the current one, as per the contract terms.
Therefore, the 22-year old will leave as a free agent.
Karelse attracted local and overseas interest after emerging as one of the leading strikers in the DStv Diski Challenge in 2022/23, competing with the likes of Shandre Campbell of SuperSport United for the Golden Boot.
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However, Sundowns rejected bids for the services of the burly striker, as they insisted that he is in their plans and promoted him to the senior team.
With a big and expensively-assembled squad at Masandawana, Karelse could not get game-time and although the Tshwane giants rated him highly and intended to keep him for the foreseeable future, they will now lose him on a free.