Saleng move on loan to Orbit from Pirates ‘a done deal’: source

Monnapule Saleng will join Orbit College on loan from Orlando Pirates in the 2025-26 season.

The move will see the 27-year-old tearaway winger return to the North West team where he began his career in the late 2010s.

The loan of the player, who went Awol from Pirates from December and missed the second half of last season over unhappiness about his contract, to the newly promoted Betway Premiership team is "a done deal", TimesLIVE is informed.

Saleng apparently did not join 32 Bucs teammates when they left for their preseason camp in Spain on Monday night because of the loan move.

He has apparently not yet started training with Orbit.

A source close to Saleng, who did not want to be named, said the move was aimed at getting Saleng game time at a team that will be hungry to perform and ensure their survival in the Premiership.

Saleng will be eager to prove himself and get back into match shape, and the loan deal is also aimed at possibly finding a meeting of minds with Pirates again, with the potential to reunite after a year.

Saleng will reunite with coach Pogiso Makhoye at Orbit. Makhoye apparently discovered Saleng and gave him his chance at lower-tier Orbit before introducing him to Free State Stars, who the player turned out for from 2019 to 2021.

He was signed by Pirates from Stars in June 2021 and loaned for a season to Moroka Swallows, then brought back to the Buccaneers where he became an attacking darling of the fans.

Orbit, the second-placed finishers in the 2024-25 Motsepe Foundation Championship (MFC), gained promotion to the Premiership by winning the playoffs, where they topped the mini-league table above top flight Cape Town City and third-placed MFC team Casric Stars. 

Pirates’ media officer Thandi Merafe, on tour with Pirates in Spain, had at the time of publishing not responded to an email asking if the team can confirm the loan deal and whether Saleng is in Marbella with the Buccaneers.