Chris Lakey Matty Pattison looks certain to leave Carrow Road after reports claiming he is involved in a tug-of-war over his services in his native South Africa - and that stories of witchcraft had left him 'confused'.

Chris Lakey

Matty Pattison looks certain to leave Carrow Road after reports claiming he is involved in a tug-of-war over his services in his native South Africa - and that stories of witchcraft had left him “confused”.

The 24-year-old midfielder is reportedly poised to join Mamelodi Sundowns, having had a medical with the club on Friday - although he appeared to be on his way to Orlando Pirates.

The reports claim that two agents, Joseph Cotty and Jerome McCarthy, want to take Pattison to different clubs.

“Sundowns wanted the boy to come for trials, but Pirates wanted to sign him straight away,” Cotty claimed. “Now seemingly they (Sundowns) are desperate to sign him after getting news that he was going to Pirates.

“We spoke to Pirates and made all the guarantees that they would sign the player without trials, but these people hijacked the deal and negotiated with Sundowns behind my back.”

Cotty also claimed the player has been “confused” by the situation he has found himself in.

“The boy has been told lies about Pirates with news of witchcraft and club training in locations,” he said. “He is now confused, but I maintain that he deserves to go to Pirates as I have been working on this deal with his manager in England for the past three months.”

McCarthy reportedly accompanied Pattison to Sundowns' Telkom Charity Cup on Saturday - and is adamant the player will be signing for the team, managed by Bulgarian legend Hristo Stoichkov.

“We have all the necessary powers to handle the player's deal in South Africa and are negotiating with one team (Sundowns),” he said. “We will be finalising the player's transfer deal by Tuesday.”

South Africa's Premier Soccer League champions SuperSport had also linked with a move for Pattison, but their Football Director Stan Matthews said: “There has been no high-level interest for Pattison. We were approached by someone about him, but nothing more happened.”

Mamelodi Sundowns begin their league campaign this weekend - and Pattison is believed to be looking at a return home as a way of forcing his way into the national team for next year's World Cup final in South Africa.

Should Pattison head home it would represent something of a U-turn for a player who finished the season out of favour with manager Bryan Gunn and publicly admitted he would have to consider his future should he be unable to force his way back.

However, he managed to impress Gunn and appeared in the opening friendly match of the summer, at Dartford - where he created one of Chris Martin's two goals - and then joined the club on the tour of Scotland.

Pattison - who was linked with a move to Blackpool earlier this summer - set up the winner for Paul McVeigh against Raith Rovers, but missed the second game, against St Johnstone, after rushing back to Newcastle for the birth of his daughter. He returned for the game at Airdrie but limped off after 29 minutes with a calf injury - and hasn't featured since, even though he had returned to training in time for City's pre-season finale against Wigan on Saturday.

Gunn has plenty of options in midfield, especially on the left where Pattison operates; Wes Hoolahan is favourite to start there, but Simon Lappin is also staking a claim for a role.

Pattison was born in Johannesburg but moved to England with his family when he was 11. He joined the Newcastle academy and made his full debut for the Magpies in February, 2006, when Glenn Roeder - and became Roeder's first permanent signing at City in January, 2008, turning a loan deal into a permanent, three-and-a-half year contract.