Cape Town - Chippa United manager Dan Malesela claims Bongani Ndulula will only be considered for selection once he gets back to full fitness.
Ndulula joined the Chilli Boys in the off-season after a dismal spell at Kaizer Chiefs, where he failed to score in his five appearances for Amakhosi.
It was fall from grace for a striker that was considered to be one of the country's brightest prospects when he burst onto the scene for Bloemfontein Celtic and the national youth set-up six years ago.
Despite helping Bafana Bafana qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, the robust forward's decline has been evident, and Malesela admitted as much when asked when the player nicknamed 'Drogba' would play Premiership football again.
"Very far, he needs to shed some weight and it's going very far [until he returns to the first-team]," he told KickOff, when asked about the 24-year-old.
Ndulula scored twice in nine appearances for the senior national team after making his debut in 2014.