Monnapule Saleng's Orlando Pirates future hangs in the balance but did the Kaizer Chiefs linked-winger cause cracks in the Buccaneers dressing room? Amakhosi star's father responds

Monnapule Saleng had a fallout with Orlando Pirates, leading to him being frozen out for the better part of the 2024/25 season.

Reports suggest that he was following a failed move to Al Ahly, where he was touted to replace Percy Tau and Saleng's agency said the winger was keen on solving the situation through legal channels after boycotting training sessions.

Pirates legend Eugene Zwane has dismissed the narrative that the player's actions had the potential to divide the Buccaneers dressing room.

"Unlike in our days when maybe one or two influential players could sway the change room, maybe against the coach, management," Zwane told Soccer Laduma.

"These days players are much smarter, they understand it's their career [in Saleng's case], when they get contracted, they get contracted alone. 

"When they get renewed, they get renewed alone. When they get terminated, they get terminated alone. So you can't buy into someone's battles that has nothing to do with you," added the father of Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Samkelo.

"You do your best to earn the next contract as an individual within the team environment. So a lot of these young players they understand, they get it. So I don't think Saleng's absence was a major factor in the change room."

The coming in of a new coach at Pirates might provide reprieve for Saleng if the new man pushes for the club bosses to resolve the player's issues.

What could inspire Jose Riveiro's successor is that Saleng had managed five goals and one assist in 13 games before being frozen out.

But the winger might have a lot of work to do during pre-season to get himself up to some match fitness, which he struggled with when he turned out for a Bafana Bafana African Nations Championship qualifiers side in March.

For now, the Bloemhof-born player's future at Pirates is uncertain but could be known in the next days when the new coach finalises his squad to take to Spain for pre-season camp.

However, the possibility of a move elsewhere cannot be ruled out for Saleng, who has been linked with Chiefs.