After Gilberto missed the first two of Orlando Pirates' official matches, the reason for the Angolan's absence has been established by this publication.
Gilberto is arguably Pirates' biggest signing of the current transfer window, after they were reportedly quoted a minimum of R10 million by his former club Petro de Luanda.
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The club's supporters were looking forward to seeing the creative player in action, after he was heavily involved during pre-season matches in Spain, where he scored his first goal for the side, albeit unofficially, in a 1-1 draw against Granada.
However, the 23-year-old was not included in Jose Riveiro's first match-day squad of the season, in an MTN8 quarter-final encounter they won 3-1 in extra-time against SuperSport United.
Gilberto also did not travel with the side to Mauritius for the CAF Champions League first preliminary round, first leg encounter against CS Disciples, a match that ended goalless on Sunday past weekend.
KickOff has gathered that the big reason why Gilberto is yet to make the matchday squad at Pirates is that he is still awaiting his paperwork from the Angolan Football Federation.
Indications from sources are that the winger with the dancing feet is yet to receive his paperwork from his homeland federation, which is a prerequisites for applying for a work permit.
According to a reliable source close to the situation, the federation is notorious for its tardiness in processing paperwork for players going to ply their trade outside the country.
This publication has been given reasons to believe that there is a lot of bureaucracy at the Angolan Football Federation in processing paperwork, which makes it even more unpredictable as to when Gilberto could finally get his papers so he can apply for a work permit in South Africa.
It is understood that it is much easier for Angolans with a Portuguese citizenship to get their paperwork processed in Europe rather than in Angola.
And for players leaving the country, Angola, for the first time, without a Portuguese citizenship, it tends to be even more difficult to process paperwork expeditiously.