What are the facts?
Lebese is out of favour… that seems very evident. He’s reportedly battled with his weight since moving to Chloorkop, and in his first season, he made just 10 appearances in the Absa Premiership as he struggled to try and break into Mosimane’s side on a regular basis over the course of the campaign. Now, with a third of the 2018/19 season having passed, things seem to have gotten worse for the ex-Amakhosi man and he is now not even making the 18-man matchday squad.
The 29-year-old hasn’t made the bench in any of Sundowns’ games so far, and the arrival of the likes of Phakamani Mahlambi, Jose Ali Meza and Toni Silva has seen him drop even further down the pecking order. He has started just seven games in all competitions in total since his arrival in 2017, and the fact that he has become almost a forgotten man this season does not bode well for his career.
His 10 league appearances in 2017/18 was his lowest return in the Absa Premiership since 2010/11, with Lebese having played 20+ games in all of the following six seasons prior to his move to Sundowns, and unless things change drastically, then 2018/19 could become his most inactive campaign since he joined the Glamour Boys a decade ago.
The Siya crew spoke to Lebese’s agent, Steve Kapeluschnik, who admitted that the player has become frustrated with his lack of game-time, though insisted that Sundowns were sympathetic with the attacker over his current situation.
Kapeluschnik said, “George has worked really, really hard to try and get into the team at Sundowns since he got there. He was put on a special programme and went on to lose a lot of weight and got into the sort of shape they wanted to see.
“He has done whatever has been asked, and of course he’s frustrated that he’s not playing because he came to Sundowns to play. We’ve now met with the club and explained his frustrations, which they understand, and they seemed very sympathetic to those frustrations. Whether he goes or not we don’t know. Let’s wait and see what happens in the coming months.”