Mailula who was promoted to the Sundowns senior team from the DDC team this season has seen his career flourish like a palm tree in his very first stint at top flight football.

Scoring 14 goals in 24 matches so far in all competitions for Masandawana including the famous brace against Maritzburg United last year in Sundowns' 5-0 victory, Mailula is now also highly regarded as a contender for the PSL footballer of the season.

With much of the praise going to head coach Rhulani Mokwena for giving Mailula his first big break at Sundowns' first team, the 21 year old has also came out and put all the praise and credit to Themba Zwane and Bongani Zungu.

"Themba Zwane and Bongani Zungu kept on reminding me that it is okay to make mistakes because they provide learning curves in order to improve one's game, hearing those words from such seasoned professionals motivated me to work towards finding my rhythm and keep the consistency in my game," Mailula said.

The youngster who has seen his good run of form at Sundowns grow from leaps and bounds was also given his first national call up last month when Bafana Bafana played Liberia in the 2023 AFCON qualifiers.

Upon selecting Mailula for the AFCON qualifiers, Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos said, " When I look at him his behaviour in the group is very good, he is a player that has his two feet on the ground but there are a lot of things to do about him."

With Mamelodi Sundowns having already won the 2022/23 DSTV Premiership title with 7 matches remaining, Mailula has been a huge part of that success and the 21 year old is grateful to have achieved that feat.

"Through hard work, determination and God's grace I am living my dream and like any other professional footballer, I aspire to play for a big team in Europe one day," Mailula added.

Mailula will be aiming to finish the season on a high note as Sundowns are still contention for another league treble and with the PSL title already in the bag, Sundowns will now focus more on the CAF Champions League and the Nedbank Cup.