Patosi gets lifeline at Lokeren‚ but future at the club in doubt

Bafana Bafana winger Ayanda Patosi is to be given yet another life at Lokeren‚ according to reports in Belgium.

Patosi had been frozen out of the first team picture at his club after failing to arrive back on time from national team duty in November.

He blamed documentation issues‚ but this did not go down well with coach Rúnar Kristinsson and he was sent to train with the reserves.

But it appears as though the club‚ who sit in a disappointing 10th in the Belgian top-flight‚ are willing to allow him back into the first team fold. Patosi is an important player for them and is chief set-piece taker when in the side.

He has not played for them at all since a late substitute appearance on October 29‚ and looks certain to exit the club either in this transfer window or the next.

But in the meantime he will be allowed to play for the club again‚ but must first prove his fitness‚ which has been an ongoing issue through his career.

Patosi signed a contract extension at Lokeren last April to see him through to the end of this season‚ but has long spoken of his desire to find pastures new.

Patosi moved from the ASD Academy in Cape Town to Lokeren in 2011‚ signing a five-year contract starting on very close to the minimum wage applicable to footballers in Belgium.

This has been improved over time‚ but for much of his six-year stay in Belgium he was earning as little as half what he could have collected in the Premier Soccer League.

He has often had his mentality and commitment to his career questioned at the club‚ with the suggestion being that given his talent‚ he should have moved to a bigger European league already.

TMG Digital/TMG Sport