Mozambican left-back Reinildo Mandava will move on to Sunderland after the end of his time at Spanish La Liga Big Three club Atletico Madrid ‘with a past’ of a missed PSL opportunity.
Reinildo has spent the past three-and-half years playing under Diego Simeone but is now moving on to the EPL.
For all the football visits he made to nearby South Africa while playing in Mozambique, the 31-year-old surprisingly wasn’t noticed by PSL clubs.
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"The foreign player restriction structure in the PSL is the reason why I didn’t bring Reinildo to South Africa while he was in Mozambique," explains Zuneid Sidat, the CEO of Managing Football Stars (MFS).
Reinildo went to Europe while under MFS almost a decade ago, starting out in Portugal, before he progressed to French club Lille, then Atletico Madrid.
"The foreigner restriction in South Africa is the reason why top talents from the COSAFA region doesn’t come through the PSL.
"It shouldn’t be the case that a Mozambican talent ends up at Atletico Madrid without having gone past the PSL.
"My suggestion is that COSAFA countries should have a special foreign space allocation besides what is reserved for foreign players from the rest of the world.
"My argument is that there should be a benefit for the COSAFA region, just like there is in Europe, especially with the EU passport.
"That way, PSL clubs stand to also benefit massively when their former players make moves later in Europe.
"Right now, it is easier for Mozambicans to play in Portugal than it is in South Africa because of this.
"SA is the top league in our region, so SA should protect and promote our region.
"All the talent from the region should go to SA, then Europe.
"But we are now taking players to Second, Third or even Fourth Division clubs in Europe clubs, who then make big money when players move to bigger clubs.
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"When Reinildo went to Portugal, the report about him came back saying he couldn’t even play in the Fifth Division because of his weight, but look where he got.
"They took him in and prepared him.
"In South Africa, there should be a plan to take the best talent from the COSAFA region and prepare it for Europe," says Sidat.
Photo: Getty Images Sport
