{"id":27984,"date":"2023-06-09T15:02:19","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T15:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-eye-figuareido-birds-duo"},"modified":"2023-06-09T15:46:01","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T15:46:01","slug":"bull-eye-figuareido-birds-duo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-eye-figuareido-birds-duo","title":{"rendered":"BULL EYE FIGUAREIDO, BIRDS DUO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. <\/strong><\/span>Giants Mbabane Highlanders are set to pounce on Mbabane Swallows stars, with their sights set on defender Sifiso Mabila and forward Felix Badenhorst.<\/b><\/p>\n

The pair is not the only place Highlanders are looking, but also interested in signing former Cape Town All Stars winger and former Denver Sundowns, as well as the national team Sihlangu star winger Justice Figuareido. \u201cIt may be quiet in terms of media headlines from our camp but it doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re not making any plans for next season. We announced even before the final match of the season that we were going to release some of our players and bring in new ones. Some have already been reported to have left while a few others are out of contracts, something we\u2019ll resolve as soon as we resume our preseason training ahead of the Bible Society Cup we must defend.<\/p>\n

Stronger<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to try and present an even stronger team next season, seeing that we dropped to position four when we had finished second in the previous season. We want to compete and win the league; we must get the best players in. We\u2019re monitoring the situation at Swallows as we\u2019re interested in some of the players like Felix and Sifiso Mabila,\u201d Highlanders\u2019 South African Managing Director (MD) Chief Ally Kgomongwe responded when asked about their transfer plans.<\/p>\n

Speaking to him from Pretoria yesterday, he said the good thing about their targets was that their coach, Solly Luvhengo knew Figuareido and Badenhorst, while he also saw Mabila in some of the MTN Premier League games and against Highlanders. \u201cWe\u2019ve not yet made our move on any of them but we\u2019ve discussed them and we\u2019ll be going all out to try and sign them then also look for the best foreign striker as we got an opening or two since we\u2019re still monitoring Bereng\u2019s situation;he might make a return for another season but if he doesn\u2019t, we\u2019ll replace him,\u201d Kgomongwe said.<\/p>\n

He also mentioned that while they had their eyes on the Swallows duo, their strong centre-back, Peter Dlamini looked set for an exit. \u201cHe still hasn\u2019t pitched up or shown an interest to have his contract renewed, but we\u2019ll see when preseason training starts. What I know is that we\u2019re already preparing for life without him and looking for a good defender as Peter is strongly linked with Swallows,\u201d Kgomongwe said. However, sources have also linked the defender with Green Mamba, who were reportedly interested in him even in the second transfer window but at the time, the coach, Ernest Mavuso, could not get him following that the club did not have the budget to buy him out as he was contracted to Highlanders. The latter have also tried to sign Badenhorst before and failed while with Mabila, they were beaten to his signature by the quick action of Swallows at the time with the slain Victor Gamedze still their Chairperson. Mabila had initially been bound to join Highlanders but Swallows hijacked the move and signed the player.<\/p>\n

Loyal<\/b><\/p>\n

With Badenhorst, the player chose to stay loyal to the club for Gamedze\u2019s sake when he returned from TS Galaxy in 2021 and signed for Swallows when Kgomongwe had also bid for him. He signed a two-year contract in 2021. Kgomongwe also tried to sign Banele \u2018Pupu\u2019 Sikhondze two seasons ago but the midfielder ended back at Swallows.<\/p>\n

The only player he won was striker Sabelo \u2018Sikhali\u2019 Ndzinisa, who had been suspended from South African football for two years but the verdict was understood to ban him from football completely; Kgomongwe went out to seek clarity with the South African Football Association (SAFA) to have the verdict explained and it turned out \u2018Sikhali\u2019 could not play in South Africa only. He signed him for two years before the former Swallows marksman left last season to join MTN Premier League champions for the recently ended season, Green Mamba.<\/p>\n

No immediate comment could be obtained from Mabila while Badenhorst would not comment. Figuareido, on the hand, said he would get direction from his unnamed agent as he still could possibly return to South Africa but would not shut the doors for offers. \u201cI\u2019m still going to speak to my agent, then I\u2019ll know what\u2019s going on,\u201d he said when asked about the Highlanders interest. Meanwhile, Swallows are currently engulfed by uncertainty after the reported departure of the financial muscle behind the team, the club President, Archbishop Bheke Lukhele, whose resignation was reported in the final weekend of last season.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eswatini<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. Giants Mbabane Highlanders are set to pounce on Mbabane Swallows stars, with their sights set on defender Sifiso Mabila and forward Felix Badenhorst. The pair is not the only place Highlanders are looking, but also interested in signing former Cape Town All Stars winger and former Denver Sundowns, as well as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":27983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[234,248,249],"class_list":["post-27984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eswatini","tag-eswatini"],"yoast_head":"\nBULL EYE FIGUAREIDO, BIRDS DUO - Eswatini<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Giants Mbabane Highlanders are set to pounce on Mbabane Swallows stars, with their sights set on defender Sifiso Mabi ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-eye-figuareido-birds-duo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BULL EYE FIGUAREIDO, BIRDS DUO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Giants Mbabane Highlanders are set to pounce on Mbabane Swallows stars, with their sights set on defender Sifiso Mabi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-eye-figuareido-birds-duo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eswatini\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-09T15:02:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-09T15:46:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2023\/06\/sm_1686308731.30224.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1125\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-eye-figuareido-birds-duo#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-eye-figuareido-birds-duo\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"BULL EYE FIGUAREIDO, BIRDS DUO\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-09T15:02:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-09T15:46:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-eye-figuareido-birds-duo\"},\"wordCount\":786,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-eye-figuareido-birds-duo#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2023\/06\/sm_1686308731.30224.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eswatini\",\"Eswatini\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-eye-figuareido-birds-duo#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-eye-figuareido-birds-duo\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-eye-figuareido-birds-duo\",\"name\":\"BULL EYE FIGUAREIDO, BIRDS DUO - 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