A Fifa-imposed ban on signing players has forced Malawian coach John Maduka to start using his Royal AM chairperson Andile pisane as a member of the playing squad.
Maduka included Mpisane on the list of substitutes during a barren draw with giants Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Mpisane has been a regular at Royal’s reserve side, which competes in the DStv Diski Challenge and joins other young players who were integrated into the squad.
Maduka insisted that his boss was ready to be integrated into the playing squad.
“He works, he works. He finishes the training sessions. Whenever we do conditioning sessions, he is not a player who pulls out. He might look the way he looks but whenever we do training sessions, he does finish them.
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“The conditioning part is very tough, we understand, but he does manage to finish them. Last week, we used him in a friendly against Amazulu. He played 70 or 75 minutes and he never looked like a player who was tired,” he told online publication kickoff.com.
Royal stood their ground against Chiefs to remain unbeaten in three matches but went down 1-0 to Sekhukhune on Wednesday.
The result saw Royal drop to 10th from fifth position with eight points from seven matches.
Fifa banned Royal from signing any player following the club’s failure to pay Serbian striker Samir Nurkovic after signing him last season but keeping him on the sidelines.
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The ban remains in place until Royal settle the debt.
This is despite the club contesting the decision with the appeal awaiting a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing in Switzerland
