Just like last season, Kaizer Chiefs will start the new season away and will do so with considerable interest on their new signings after making several acquisitions during pre-season.
Amakhosi will make up the last two clubs on show for the Betway Premiership opening weekend with their match against Stellenbosch FC being played at the DHL Cape Town Stadium on Sunday (17:30).
How Nasreddine Nabi decides to line up his team will get the attention that will accompany the scrutiny of his selections for the rest of the season.
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The new campaign is starting with Chiefs having brought in Flavio Silva, Siphesihle Ndlovu, Ethan Chislett, Nkanyiso Shinga, Thabiso Monyane, and Paseka Mako, while Thulani Mabaso, Naledi Hlongwane, Kabelo Nkgwesa, and Manqoba Ozoemena make up the list of those promoted.
Without a doubt, Guinea-Bissau born striker Silva will be the subject of interest considering that the Soweto giants need goals and better returns than what they got from Ranga Chivaviro, Efmamjjasond Gonzalez, and Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana in recent times.
His off-season showing and trail of struggles in the Portuguese lower divisions means he has so much to prove about why he was brought in.
The goals he scored in Indonesia were in a league of part-timers classified so low that it is not even in the top 10 in Asia.
After coming through Sporting’s Under-19 team, Silva played semi-professional football in the Terceira Divisão for Sport Clube Uniao Torreense, struggled in Benfica’s B team, then went to SC Covilha in the Third Division.
All the other four moves he made in Portugal after that came with no top-flight football until he left for an unsuccessful short spell with FC Mondercange in Luxemburg.
The best spell of his career was in southeast Asia, where he has played for the past two-and-a-half years at Persik Kediri and Persebaya Surabaya.
Another new signing coming from abroad who has never played top tier-league football is Chislett.
The 26-year-old was born in Durban but has spent the past 20 years in England playing Third and Fourth Division football at best.
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Monyane and Mako were offloaded at Orlando Pirates, while Ndlovu is getting a second bite at a big club after his previous stint with Bucs.
Shinga largely played in the Second Division in Portugal but did have a test of top-flight football with Estrela Amadora.
Photo: Darren Stewart/Gallo Images
