Orlando Pirates are in a tight corner to resolve their matter with Monnapule Saleng after the side's lack of depth was exposed in a defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns.
Pirates were handed out a harsh lesson by Sundowns that competing for the league title is a marathon and not a sprint.
Having shown great potential of challenging for the Betway Premiership title early in the season early on, they failed their first test regarding squad depth.
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The Brazilians have won the league title for the past seven years and against Pirates on Saturday, their experience showed in how they selected their line-ups leading up to and in the top-of-the-table clash itself.
They had Iqraam Rayners, Thapelo Morena, Grant Kekana, Lucas Suarez, Jayden Adams and Aubrey Modiba in the starting line-up, all of whom had at least a week's rest (with the exception of Adams, who was making only his second start).
The gulf in class showed from the luxury Miguel Cardoso had to refresh the team, unlike their opponents, who played the same line-up in two games against Kaizer Chiefs and Sekhukhune United in a space of a week.
This made it three high intensity matches within eight days with more or less the same line-up.
Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro would have probably liked to rotate his squad where necessary, but he may not have the personnel to replace Patrick Maswanganyi, Relebohile Mofokeng and Thalente Mbatha, for example.
Bucs surprisingly did not make any signings in January and the issue with Saleng has become a thorn in the management's flesh.
The club's fans are ruing the unavailability of the former PSL Players' Player of the Season, whose return could count as a new signing heading into the final straight of the campaign.
The left-footed attacker last featured in early December last year, with the club not providing information on why he has not been making the squad since then.
KickOff.com contacted Saleng's agent, Karabo Tshabuse, to find out why the 26-year-old has not been making the Pirates squad.
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"I'm not in a position to comment on anything regarding my client at the moment," Tshabuse of P Management Sports responded.
"Unfortunately, I'm not giving commentary on enquiries."
The Soweto giants have only lost once out of 18 games where Saleng featured this season, a 3-2 defeat to Magesi FC in the Carling Knockout.