South African Broadcasting Corporation Sport can reveal that Mamelodi Sundowns have given winger Thapelo Maseko permission to find a new club after leaving him out of their pre-season tour to Austria.<\/p>\n
Maseko recently returned from a loan spell at Cypriot side AEL Limassol, having rejoined his parent club after no permanent agreement was reached.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old moved to Cyprus in January in search of regular game time after falling out of coach Miguel Cardoso\u2019s plans, and enjoyed a productive spell, making 15 appearances across all competitions while contributing two goals and one assist.<\/p>\n
His performances also earned him a recall to Hugo Broos\u2019 Bafana Bafana squad for the FIFA World Cup, where he played a key role in South Africa\u2019s historic run to the round of 16.<\/p>\n
Maseko scored the decisive goal against South Korea in the group stage to secure the team\u2019s place in the knockout rounds before their elimination to Canada.<\/p>\n
Despite that resurgence, the public broadcaster understands Sundowns are prepared either to sell the winger permanently or sanction another loan move.<\/p>\n
Maseko\u2019s representatives have favoured an exit, with the player having struggled for opportunities since Cardoso\u2019s arrival in December 2024.<\/p>\n
AEL Limassol are believed to remain interested in signing him on a permanent deal following his impressive displays in Cyprus and at the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Maseko joined Sundowns from SuperSport United in July 2023 under then-coach Rulani Mokwena and immediately announced himself by winning the inaugural African Football League Player of the Tournament award.<\/p>\n
He was also part of the Bafana squad that claimed bronze at the Africa Cup of Nations hosted by eventual winners C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire in 2024.<\/p>\n
However, a long-term injury stalled his progress and he later publicly admitted his frustration over limited opportunities before reviving his career in Cyprus.<\/p>\n
With the transfer window open until late September, the winger now appears set for a fresh start away from Chloorkop.<\/p>\n
–SABC–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22848,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-40168","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Maseko\u2019s representatives have favoured an exit, with the player having struggled for opportunities since Cardoso\u2019s arrival in December 2024.","published_date":"","news_description":"Maseko\u2019s representatives have favoured an exit, with the player having struggled for opportunities since Cardoso\u2019s arrival in December 2024.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40180,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40168\/revisions\/40180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=40168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}