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Usain Bolt: Sprinting legend set to announce surprising new career move

Bolt pictured in Mamelodi Sundowns training gear.

Bolt pictured in Mamelodi Sundowns training gear. Photo: Twitter - @Masandawana

Athletics legend Usain Bolt appears set to trade the spikes for boots and sign for South African football side Mamelodi Sundowns.

Bolt has made no secret of his desire to take up a career in football since retiring from track and field last year.

But his likely destination – South Africa’s Premier Soccer League – is a major surprise given its lowly status.

The 31-year-old Jamaican posted on Twitter on Monday that he had “signed for a football team”.

He added he would confirm the club on Tuesday at 7pm (AEDT).

The Sundowns would have been no one’s first choice for Bolt’s destination, but they posted a photo of Bolt in the club’s training kit and added “football will never be the same”, before also posting the same time as Bolt.

Other photos, taken in January, showed Bolt training and posing with the club’s kit flanked by Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane.

Usain Bolt

Bolt trained with the Sundowns in January. Photo: Getty

Mamelodi sit four points clear on top of the Premier Soccer League table with eight matches in the season remaining.

Bolt’s signing would likely prove a major distraction but his arrival would surely boost crowds for the Sundowns.

New Zealand international Jeremy Brockie – who played in the A-League for the Newcastle Jets, Wellington Phoenix, North Queensland Fury and New Zealand Knights – would be a teammate of Bolt’s if the deal goes through.

The Pretoria-based club are seven-time champions of the Premier Soccer League and enjoyed continental success in 2016 when they won the CAF Champions League.

Bolt could potentially make his debut for the Sundowns in a fixture at AmaZulu on Saturday morning (AEDT).

‘I watch a lot of football. I understand it’

Bolt, who is a big fan of English club Manchester United, spoke as recently as January about his desire to play football.

“I do think I have a chance [of making it as a professional],” he told Express Sport.

“I watch a lot of football. I understand it. I play it. With training, I could be good.

“Me and [Manchester United star Paul] Pogba talk a lot. I watch him and ask him a lot of questions.

“I want to play but it has to be in the top league. I’m not content to be average.

Usain Bolt

Bolt is a regular visitor to Old Trafford. Photo: Getty

“It’s going to be hard because my career has been so great but if I could win a Champions League or something, it’ll be close to anything I achieved in athletics.

“But I have to be more than average. It has to be in the top league because we have a lot of teams that have offered us deals, just random clubs. I want to be the best.”

Bolt went on to say he would have a “trial” at German giants Borussia Dortmund in March.

“We’re going to do a trial with Dortmund and that will determine what I do with that career, which way it goes. If they say I’m good, and that I need a bit of training, I’ll do it,” he added.

“One of my biggest dreams is to sign for Manchester United. If Dortmund say I’m good enough, I’ll crack on and train hard.”

But any trial looks to have been scuppered by Bolt’s imminent announcement.

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