Miguel Cardoso explains Saleng U-turn after disciplinary breach

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has explained the rationale behind the reintegration of winger Monnapule Saleng into the squad after a disciplinary breach.

The 28-year-old attacker had been frozen out of the team after going AWOL ahead of the CAF Champions League final in May, and subsequently failing to report for duty for the pre-season camp in Austria.

He was forced to train separately from the first-team, as a result, missing the early stages of the 2026/27 campaign, which at some point, sparked question marks over his long-term future at Chloorkop.

Saleng, however, has since been spotted training with the rest of the team in the build-up to the MTN8 final, with Cardoso revealing that a joint decision was made to afford the player a second chance.

“We as the club, me, the Sporting Director, the players, the captains and the chairman, decided to give ourselves and Saleng an opportunity to move forward in a positive way,” said the Downs mentor.

"Saleng trained during a period alone and he trained quite consistently and with respect of the values that we need to have inside a professional team. And since he has rejoined the team he has kept that path. So, we are happy that he shows consistency in training.

With competition for places even rife, the Portuguese tactician says the former Orlando Pirates talisman will get his chance to play throughout the course of the season, pledging his full support for the forward.

“His time will obviously appear in a certain moment I'm pretty sure, when will that be I don't know. We also need to understand that in this season there are more options in the front than we had in the past,” Cardoso added.

"Arthur [Sales] is not here, Lebo Mothiba was here but is not on the bench. We have Saleng, Tsiki [Ntsabeleng], so there are other players that were also not here today [Tuesday]. They have to fight between themselves to get a position. He will appear, I'm pretty sure he will appear.

"And it's a player that we trust, so what I mean by trust is that we are trying to create a positive relationship between the parts so that I can trust him, he can trust me, we can trust each other and on that moment we will for sure be able to perform.

"You saw me celebrating with him, pushing him to lift the cup of the MTN8 because I support, I totally support him. I think that we are special club on that, probably in other clubs he would not be in this process but in Mamelodi Sundowns we do want the best for everybody and we take ourselves to the limit in order to get what we want and to give what we want to give to the football players.

Sundowns, meanwhile, return to action with the first leg of their CAF Champions League second preliminary round tie against Angolan Girabola log leaders Wiliete SC away from home on Sunday.

Hlayisani Magoro

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Football journalist from South Africa covering African football news, exclusive stories and key events while sharing insights with passionate fans of the game.

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