Cardoso On Player Unrest
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso says that internal issues and player unrest will not break the team, emphasizing that the club is built on strong values.
Cardoso was responding to questions about the unsettled status of several players, including Lucas Ribeiro Costa, Khuliso Mudau, and to a lesser extent, Peter Shalulile.
Costa confirmed he had terminated his contract with Sundowns on the letter. He accused the club of inflating his price after Qatar SC made an offer to sign him.
Costa has since taken his case to the FIFA Football Tribunal, hoping for a favorable ruling similar to the one granted to Lassana Diarra by the European Court of Justice.
Costa has hired renowned Belgian lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont, who represented Diarra and won the historic 1995 case involving Jean-Marc Bosman.
The transfer interest in Costa followed his stellar performance last season, where he won the PSL Footballer of the Season, Players’ Player of the Season, PSL Top Goal Scorer, and Goal of the Season awards. During the FIFA Club World Cup, he scored a spectacular goal against Borussia Dortmund that was named the Goal of the Tournament. It now seems unlikely that Costa will play for Sundowns again.
Another player with a contract dispute is Khuliso Mudau, who is reportedly in a stalemate over a contract extension. A statement from Sundowns confirmed that other players have also attracted interest from clubs following the FIFA Club World Cup.
“I think Mamelodi Sundowns is not making any kind of noise around this issue, and whatever happens, Mamelodi Sundowns is preserving everything that might be happening, and we keep it inside the locker room, inside the doors,” Cardoso said ahead of the MTN8 semi-final second leg against Orlando Pirates.
“The locker room is impossible to be ripped; it is impossible to be broken by these kinds of things. The locker room is strong. The values inside the club are too strong for these kinds of events. The focus is so strong on becoming better and preparing for every match, and the time is so little that the level of concentration must always be high so that we don’t have to relate to what happens around.
“We have the philosophy that if one falls, two should rise, and that is how you develop character, how we shape character. I think that is how the story of Mamelodi Sundowns has been written—by strong characters, strong values, and strong people. Whatever happens is always solved behind closed doors in the best way possible. I am sure that in the right moment, it will be spoken about.”
