Mamelodi Sundowns' contract negotiations with midfielder Andile Jali are not as straight forward as his representatives expected them to be.
Jali has entered the final few months of his contract at Sundowns and since he is eligible to sign a pre-contract with a club of his choice, as per FIFA rules, he has been linked with several clubs in the DStv Premiership, namely Kaizer Chiefs, Cape Town City and AmaZulu.
As reported in edition 1310 of Soccer Laduma, the former Orlando Pirates midfielder has remained calm despite his camp not accepting Sundowns' initial offer to extend his contract beyond the current season.
Read: Jali's Downs Stumbling Block Revealed?
According to reliable Siya sources, the sticking point in Jali not putting pen to paper on a new deal at Chloorkop appears to be around a new proposed salary package and guarantees on whether he would get game time going forward.
The 32-year old had one of his best seasons in his career last term after he was named MTN8 Player of the Tournament, Aka 'Last Man Standing', Nedbank Cup Player of the Tournament and DStv Premiership Midfielder of the Season, as a vital member of a treble-winning Sundowns.
However, Jali has featured much less compared to at this stage last season and sources close to the Matatiele native have indicated to the Siya crew that the combative midfielder believes he still has a lot to offer and would be open to a move elsewhere.
Despite all these uncertainties, this publication has been led to believe that the Bafana Bafana midfielder's camp has left his future in the Brazilians' hands, to prove that they consider him a valuable member of the team.
Until the two parties dot the i's and cross the t's, anything can still happen but what gives Sundowns the advantage over all the other teams courting Jali is that there is a potential of him extending his career at the club beyond his playing days.
The Brazilians head coach Rulani Mokwena recently told the media that he values the 32-year old's input in technical matters and he even uses him as his third or fourth assistant.
Mokwena recently gave goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene practical experience as a stand-in goalkeeper coach against Orlando Pirates, as regular goalkeeper coach Wendell Robinson was suspended.
The young tactician confirmed that he is keen to keep Jali in the team beyond June 2023 but his contract situation is now being dealt with by a different department.
"I've spoken a lot about it (Jali's contract), it's sitting with management, they probably got (a) more concrete and more honest answer than what I could give you," Mokwena said on Metro FM.
When pressed on whether they want to resign Jali, Mokwena said, "Well, we wanna resign him for sure, definitely."
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