Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Marcelo Allende has become a polarizing figure in South Africa and his home country of Chile, a top quality player under-appreciated and seemingly judged unfairly by his price tag, as his homecoming has remained elusive.
According to Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena, as Chile prepare to face world champions Argentina in the Copa America in the early hours of Wednesday morning, in matchday two of the tournament, Allende should have been in the company of La Roja taking on Lionel Messi and Co.
The 25-year-old midfielder joined The Brazilians with a heavy burden after his transfer fee in July 2022 from Uruguayan club Montevideo City Torque was reported to be in a region of R51 million.
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Before touching down on the South African soil, there was already criticism in his home country, with his move deemed to be a step backwards in his career, after previously being on the fringes of being signed by the likes of Arsenal.
At only 23 at the time, Allende was expected to move to Europe and his $3 million move to the Tshwane giants was viewed, even by fans in his country, as chasing the money rather than forging out a career path normally followed by South Americans, even if it means starting off at smaller European leagues.
The Chilean has also divided opinion in the country, as he carries expectations to live up to a R51 million billing and he seems to be paying the price after he was overlooked for even one Man of the Match award in his debut season, which got Mokwena shocked.
"To this day, it boggles my mind how a player like Marcelo Allende doesn't have a Man of the Match award," Mokwena said at the beginning of the season.
As the judging panel of the PSL awards was slammed, it is perhaps even a stretch to expect Allende to be nominated for End of Season awards despite being one of the key players at Sundowns.
So what about a Chile call-up?
"Well, of course he's feeling like a person that is good enough to represent his country. I think he has all the right to feel that. I think if you look at Marcelo's education and you see his career path and based also on performances, he has also captained junior national teams of Chile," Mokwena said in a recent interview on PowerFM.
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"His performances have been improving. Last season [2022/23] he didn't contribute much to the goals and assists but this season [2023/24] he did a much better job, even though he plays from a much deeper position. I think he scored six goals [four] and four assists, so ten [eight] goals contributions.
"I think he will be back in the national team of Chile and I think he will be back being a Sundowns player. He's got all the attributes, he's a winner, he's got the mentality, he's got the hunger and then he's got the football aspects. I've got full confidence that Marcelo will make the national team again," Mokwena added.
Allende has not received a national team call-up since his unpopular move to the African Football League champions.