Ethiopian striker Abubeker Nasir's injury worries have raised alarm bells from back home with concerns about his international career.
Nasir will complete the 2024/25 without having played any football at SuperSport United, where he is on a season-long loan from parent club Mamelodi Sundowns.
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Prior to being de-registered in January as one of five foreign players eligible to play for SuperSport, he was an unused substitute once.
Matsatsantsa now have Enoch Quaicoe (Ghana), Eric Mbangossoum (Chad), Samir Nurkovic (Serbia), Christian Saile Basomboli (DR Congo), and Terrence Dzvukamanja (Zimbabwe) as their five foreign players registered after Nokutenda Mangezi (Zim) was also moved out.
Being unable to play any club football this season will now take him to three years since he last played for the Ethiopian national team.
His last appearance was in June 2022.
Last year, he received a call-up from then head coach Gebremdhin Haile despite not playing for over eight months at Sundowns but was eventually dropped due to fitness issues.
The Tshwane giants signed Nasir in January 2022 but then loaned him to Ethiopian Coffee for six months, after which he came back to make his debut.
Now, since the 2022/23 season, the 24-year-old has only played 17 games for The Brazilians, spending plenty of his time injured.
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This website has spoken to two contacts in Ethiopia, who have expressed concerns about how he has been injury-prone throughout his time in South Africa, yet he was a goals machine and forever fit in Ethiopia.
Questions have been asked about the lifestyle choices he has made.