During an interview with "Allô Stade", Dodo Landu, Team manager of the Leopards, confirmed the return of goalkeeper Timothy Fayulu, whom he spoke with on the phone three days ago. He also revealed that another young goalkeeper playing in Europe had been contacted, without mentioning his name. Timothy Fayulu has previously been part of the Congolese selection from 2019 to 2021, but had stepped back in favor of the Swiss U21 selection. However, the commendable performance of the Leopards at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (CAN), hosted between January and February 2024 in Côte d'Ivoire, ignited the desire of other binational players who were hesitant to join the den of the Congolese felines.

In 2020, when he was called up to the national team of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the young Swiss goalkeeper of Congolese origin, Timothy Fayulu, had intended to directly take over the posts at that time guarded by Joël Kiasumbwa. "To cool the youngster's zeal, it was made clear to him that it doesn't work like that! And that the incumbent goalkeeper at the time, Joël Kiasumbwa, was even a World Champion with the Swiss youth teams. But he had to spend a lot of time on the bench of the Congolese selection... Behind Matampi Ley in the goalkeeper hierarchy, biding his time...", Mati Osango, a Congolese football analyst living in Belgium, related.

In March 2021, he continued, followers of Congolese soccer were astounded. "In a short video, Timothy Fayulu explains that he has chosen to play with Switzerland in anticipation of the Euro U-21 Hungary-Slovenia 2021. And that he gives up committing to the DRC. It's a shock. Unfortunately, during that competition, Fayulu would be third in the goalkeeper hierarchy and would not play any matches. Humiliated, even disillusioned, the young man looks once again towards the Congolese selection.", he stated in a story posted on social media over a week ago.

After the unavailability for this season of the main Congolese goalkeeper, Lionel Mpasi, due to his knee injury, a debate was sparked around this young prospect. Still eligible for his parents' sporting nationality thanks to his young age, Timothy Fayulu could therefore make his comeback, to the great dismay, perhaps, of some radical supporters who had not digested his video announcing his choice for Switzerland while he was already evolving under the Congolese tricolor flag.

Dido Nsapu