The Venezuelan international has now been declared a free agent by PSL prosecutor Zola Majavu, who said that Mamelodi Sundowns had failed to exercise its option to renew the contract it had with the player.
“The bottom line is that subject to any appeal process that may or may not be instituted, Mr Torrealba is indeed a free agent.
“The action was brought by the player himself. He contended that he was a free agent but Sundowns opposed this on the basis that he had concluded a subsequent contract with them.
“Torrealba contested that he did not sign any document in terms of which his contract was extended. The issue centred around his signature that was on the document that purported to be the extension of his contract.”
Majavu added that handwriting experts from both parties had been called in to access the signature in question, and the evidence, which was accepted by the DRC was that it was a forgery but he did not want to speculate on who the guilty person was.
“I would not like to speculate, however, it is clear that if it wasn’t Torrealba’s signature, it must have been someone else’s. As to who that particular culprit is, it is something the DRC was not able to establish and is certainly something the League might want to pursue further, depending on the evidence available.
“The DRC was called up to determine whether the signature was indeed Torealba’s. If it were his then the outcome would have been different,” Majavu adds.
