Newly-promoted Italian Serie A side Empoli are mulling over whether to bring Bafana Bafana target Joel Untersee on board for next season after a successful loan spell in their recently completed campaign.

Untersee‚ who can play as a right-back or on the right wing‚ spent the season with the Florence club on loan from Juventus‚ making 15 appearances in a campaign that was in part stunted by injury.

There was a clause in Untersee’s loan contract that should Empoli win promotion they would have an option to make his move permanent‚ with the player thought to be keen to make the switch.

Empoli coach Aurelio Andreazzoli must decide if the player fits into his plans for the top-flight‚ where Untersee has yet to feature after also having a spell on loan with Brescia in Serie B.

Bafana coach Stuart Baxter will hope that wherever Untersee lands up‚ he is playing regular first team football. The coach revealed in March that he had persuaded the Roodepoort-born‚ Swiss junior international to turn out for the national side.

Untersee‚ 24‚ could well make his introduction to Bafana squad when they host Libya at the resumption of the African Nations Cup qualifiers in September.

Meanwhile‚ Dutch club Groningen have dismissed reports that Bafana striker Lars Veldwijk is on the verge of a move to Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia.

Veldwijk fell out with coach Ernest Faber last season after allegedly refusing to warm up as a substitute during a match‚ something he later denied‚ and did not play a single game after early February.

“No club has been in contact with us‚ not Sofia‚” Groningen technical manager Ron Jans said. “I do not know where it [the rumour] comes from.”

Veldwijk is currently on holiday in Spain‚ with his pregnant girlfriend Monica Geuze‚ who became famous as a YouTube ‘vlogger’‚ and is due to give birth to their first child in a couple of months.

That being the case‚ Veldwijk has stated he would like to settle in one place having played for PEC Zwolle (Netherlands)‚ Nottingham Forest (England)‚ KV Kortrijk (Belgium)‚ Aalesund (Norway) and Groningen‚ all since 2016.