Mailula, Zungu, Brazilian Pedrinho — Rulani’s shopping list to fix Wydad?

Cassius Mailula, Bongani Zungu and Brazilian Pedrinho are among reported targets for Rulani Mokwena at Wydad Athletic as, having bolstered his defensive line significantly already, the South African coach seeks to address the attack. 

Percy Tau is also a reported target but Wydad's recent financial troubles — the club's debt is estimated to be $8m (R143m), according to the Moroccan press — could be a stumbling block to such a deal. 

Mokwena indicated last week new Wydad president Hicham Ait Menna — a Barcelona fan who, with his board has been tasked with digging the club out of its financial hole, wants the former Sundowns coach to bring in a more creative style at the Moroccan giants. 

Mokwena, as he would at Sundowns — who he abruptly left in early July before landing a job at Wydad days later — has been on a signing spree as he faces the task of turning the club around from a poor two years. 

This is despite three transfer window bans from Fifa for breach of contract with three former employees hanging over Wydad, though reports are Ait Menna and his board have worked out a plan to settle that debt and lift the prohibition. 

Goalkeeper Abdelali Mhamdi, left-back Zakaria Nassik, centrebacks Nabil Marmouk and Ayman Dairani, right-back Mohamed Moufid and midfielder Hamza Sakhi are among a host of signings to have arrived in the off-season. 

Reports have been 23-year-old Bafana Bafana striker Mailula — who burst onto the scene under Mokwena at Sundowns in a stellar 2022-2023 but has drifted into obscurity at Toronto FC in North America’s Major League Soccer (MLS) — is on the verge of joining WAC. 

Late last week, in a digital press conference with the South African Football Journalists' Association, Mokwena confirmed the interest in 31-year-old Zungu, who was surprisingly released by Sundowns after a strong 2023-2024 campaign. 

Mokwena and Ait Menna also reportedly travelled to Brazil to look at two South American players, including 26-year-old attacking midfielder Pedrinho, who turned out for top flight Clube Atlético Mineiro last season on loan from Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk. 

The coach was asked if he will try to take leading South African stars to Wydad and specifically about the links to Tau and Zungu. 

“Will we see South African players? I don't know,” he said. 

“Of the players you've mentioned I can speak about Zungu because he's not attached at the moment. 

“There is a huge possibility. I'm a big Zungu fan, I think everybody knows. I love Zungu because this is what makes him a top footballer, [which is] he's an incredible human being. 

“We just have to see because it's a bit more complicated than we think but it is a big possibility and I can say it is something we are considering.” 

Mailula has played just eight MLS games without scoring since joining Toronto, where he has had to compete in the forward line with Italy internationals Federico Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne and Canadian youth international Deandre Kerr. 

He scored 15 goals in 34 league and cup games at Downs in 2022-2023.

Wydad have not won Morocco’s Botola Pro league since 2021-2022, ending sixth last season, where bitter rivals Raja Casablanca swept the league without losing. After being Caf Champions League winners in 2021-2022 and runners-up in 2022-2023, WAC exited in the group stage in 2023-2024.