MANZINI FINDS NEW CLUB
The Siya crew has been reliably informed that former Bloemfontein Celtic and Chippa United striker Lerato Manzini has joined Motsepe Foundation Championship side Casric Stars.
The new club in the second tier recently purchased the status of Free State Stars and have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure they have a squad strong enough to compete in the coming campaign.
They’ve gone into the market to bring in Manzini, who has not been with a club since leaving ABC Motsepe League outfit Summerfield Dynamos.
According to information received by the Siya crew, the 31-yearold striker has signed a oneyear deal with Casric.
Soccer Laduma reported in July that Manzini was looking to make a return to professional football after Summerfield were unable to secure promotion from the third tier and the striker has now found himself a new home at Casric. Some of the other players who are believed to have surfaced at Casric are Junior Sibande and former Kaizer Chiefs attacker Kgotso Malope, who has not been able to settle at one club for a long period since leaving Naturena.
“There are a few experienced players in the team. The club has also brought in Abubakar Mumuni. The club will probably make announcements on the new play-ers soon,” a well-placed source revealed to the crew.
International electronics company Samsung has had its logo appearing during top-flight matches since the start of the 2022/23 season this year, without any official announcement coming from the League or SuperSport, the TV rights holders, but the Siya crew has been told the reason behind this.
The Samsung logo has been seen alongside that of DStv Premiership broadcast sponsor McDonald’s during televised DStv Premiership fixtures and is set to continue.
However, Soccer Laduma has learnt that Samsung do not share the relationship with the DStv Premiership as their fast-food counterparts do.
In an emailed response to the Siya crew, it was explained by Samsung South Africa what the nature of the relationship is…
“Please note that Samsung is not an official broadcast sponsor of the Premier Soccer League. The reason you may have seen the Samsung logo on screen was for advertising purposes,” read the statement from the electronics giant.
The duration of the advertising deal was not expanded on, but given the eyes and audience on domestic matches on SuperSport, it is likely to continue for some time.