Kaizer Chiefs could be spared the foreign quota embarrassment should the potential transfer of Thatayaone Ditlhokwe to Al Ittihad go through on Friday.
According to local media reports, Ditlhokwe is on the verge of joining Libyan side Al Ittihad before that country's transfer window slams shut on Friday.
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Chiefs are understood to be happy with making the deal happen, with Ittihad having offered them a reported R15 million for the services of the Botswana captain.
The Soweto giants will also benefit from having one free foreign spot to allocate, having exhausted their quota and with one foreign player who was seemingly not registered with the PSL.
As of January, they had six foreign players on their books: Fiacre Ntwari, Inacio Miguel, Edmilson Dove, Thatayaone Ditlhokwe, Edson Castillo, and Makabi Lilepo.
However, it appears that Chiefs de-registered Dove, who had not played a game from the start of the season due to the injury he carried since off-season, in order to comply with PSL foreign player rules.
The Mozambican was on the verge of qualifying for South African citizenship in 2022 after he clocked the required five years living in the country after he was signed by Cape Town City in January 2017.
However, KickOff.com has been led to believe he did not meet the physical presence requirements, after he spent more than six months out of the country playing a month after qualifying, playing for UD Songo after he joined them in February 2022.
He signed for Chiefs in August of the same year.
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Spending more than six months out of the country disqualifies a foreign national from getting the citizenship through the naturalization process (which takes about six months to be approved), and that created an administrative nightmare in the 30-year-old acquiring a South African ID.
Should Ditlhokwe join Al Ittihad, the Glamour Boys will now be free to re-register Dove, who has returned from injury and currently building up match fitness.
'TT' would have qualified for South African citizenship by next season had he been at the Village, but he will lose that privilege if he spends six months out of the country, after he arrived in Mzansi in January 2020 via SuperSport United.