Abubeker Nasir Ahmed of Mamelodi Sundowns celebrates a goal with Rhulani Mokwena. Photo: BackpagePix
Sundowns coach comments on Mashego links
Sundowns co-coach Rhulani Mokwena has spoken about the club’s recruitment policy amidst talk of signing Terrence Mashego.
Abubeker Nasir Ahmed of Mamelodi Sundowns celebrates a goal with Rhulani Mokwena. Photo: BackpagePix
Last month, Mamelodi Sundowns unveiled Marcelo Allende as one of their newest signings, and their fourth in the latest transfer window, and immediately included him on the bench against Stellenbosch FC.
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Ahead of the new season, Sundowns had bolstered their squad with carefully-considered recruits, while the Brazilians warmly welcomed the arrival of Abubeker Nasir, who has already made an immediate impact.
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SABC Sport reported on Wednesday that Sundowns were on the verge of confirming that Bafana Bafana international Terrence Mashego would be their next arrival on a five-year deal.
Coach Rhulani Mokwena has not given much away, but did explain how Sundowns go about their recruitment business.
“Until both clubs make an official statement, he is not a Sundowns player and because he isn’t a Sundowns player officially, I’d like to refrain from discussing him.
“But what I can say to you is that we want the best players in this team, and we try to get the best players in this team. When they become available in the market we have an obligation to our supporters to make sure that we move in that space to make our team as competitive as we possibly can…
“We beat off a lot of good competition to get Marcelo Allende – he has a proven pedigree. He plays for his national team, imagine the quality and calibre of the players in the Chilean national team and he is able to sit here with us and work with us every day,” Mokwena added.
“That is the place that we are in, we recruit the best players. Of course, at this moment in time when we bring in we have to let go because you can’t have your cake and eat it. But you can’t have too many – that’s the honest truth. But the club will make an official statement.”
Earlier this year it was also confirmed that Moroccan defender Abdelmounaim Boutouil would also be joining Masandawana.
The arrival of Boutouil and Allende were initially hindered by visa and work permit application issues, but Sundowns were working hard to have both players registered.
Boutouil signed a three-year deal and the hope is that Peter Shalulile (Namibia) will successfully receive a permanent residence approval in the near future. That would open up a spot for Boutouil to be registered as one of five foreign players along with Gaston Sirino (Uruguay), Nasir, Allende and Erwin Saavedra (Bolivia).
According to KickOff.com, this situation looks likely to successfully materialise before the close of the window on 22 September, and “Boutouil could be available as soon as the next game”.
Sundowns are currently at the summit of the PSL standings
When considering there will soon be a two-week Fifa calendar break, the hope would be for Boutouil to be available for the MTN8 semi-final on 1 October against Pirates if all goes according to plan.
The previous Sundowns signing to be officially unveiled was Bongani Zungu who marks his return to Chloorkop after leaving the club in 2016 to play internationally.
Meanwhile, with Sundowns needing to carefully balance their books in terms of the ‘foreign player’ allowance of five registered signings, Slovakian striker Pavol Safranko was recently let go by the club.
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