The Congolese striker has dropped a big indication about his intentions of returning to the country by revealing that he still wants to add the PSL Golden Boot to his collection of awards.
Mbele left the country seven years ago having last played for Orlando Pirates, and since then has spent most of his career moving across big clubs in the big-spending Arab leagues such as Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Libya and Algeria, as well as a brief stint in Malaysia.
The spiky-haired striker has now been enticed by the financial muscle of the Angolan top tier where he is currently turning out for Petro de Luanda, but insists he has his mind of eventually making a return to South Africa.
“I joined Petro [de Luanda] earlier this year on a short term contract and my job here is to help the club in the CAF Confederations Cup, along with scoring goals in the domestic league,” Mbele tells snl24.com/kickoff from his base in Luanda.
Petro have reached the CAF Confederations Cup play-offs and need to beat Cotonsport (of Cameroon) at home this weekend after losing 2-1 in their first-leg to proceed to the group stages, but Mbele still has part of his mind on Mzansi.
“I have heard that there is a goal scoring problem in the PSL and I feel I can come back and use my experience in solving that problem. I am still a killer striker up to now and I will have no problem with coming to do a job in the PSL once again, and get the top goal scorer award,” reveals the 26-year-old.
"I have scored seven goals since I arrived here [at Petro], so scoring is not an issue with me because I have managed to score goals at all the clubs that I have been to from CS Sfaxien, Al-Hilal, Esperance, Benghazi through to MC Alger so I am still up for it.
"I don’t have a problem here in Angola because I am at a good club but my desire is to come and fix the scoring problem in the PSL because I have played there before,” he says.
“I am not saying I want to come back to the PSL because I am at a bad club or in a bad league. The Angolan league is strong and rewards well which is why Kabuscorp was able to buy Tresor Mputu from TP Mazembe in Congo.
"Truth be told, if you have played in the PSL before you will always want to come back especially in my case because I was at a big club such as Orlando Pirates,” says Mbele who has collected medals in most of the countries he has played in since leaving Bucs.
Asked why he has moved around so much since leaving Pirates the 26 year-old says it is not all of his own making.
“I was wanted by all the clubs that I went to, and other challenges in Libya and Sudan was the political instability which meant you couldn’t settle down despite the fact the clubs there were paying well. Strikers are always in demand,” concludes Mbele.