Cape Town City coach Muhsin Ertugral has confirmed that defender Keanu Cupido is on his way to join Mamelodi Sundowns.

Cupido missed City’s loss to Sekhukhune United in the Nedbank Cup round of 32 at Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on Monday.

The 27-year-old’s place in the City defense has been filled by the return of Nathan Fasika, who has been paired with Lorenzo Gordinho since Ertugral took charge of the club earlier this month.

“The deal has been done,” said Ertugral. 

“Keanu obviously is a great player that looks to bigger challenges for himself. He deserves that. 

“Obviously, I think we are good in the defensive line so we still have one youngster [Alifeyo] Ziba he needs also a chance. I was thinking maybe today [on Monday] to give him a chance but Ziba is also a very interesting player. 

“So, along the way, he will have those chances to play hopefully we can get another, I think we are targeting another six victories that will bring us to the top eight.” 

The last time Cupido played was when City lost 1-0 to AmaZulu in December, the game that led to the dismissal of Eric Tinkler. Ertugral was subsequently appointed as interim coach.  

Cupido joined City from the AC Ajaccio B team in France ahead of the 2018/19 season. He won the MTN8 trophy in his first season under coach Benni McCarthy.  

He was a runner-up in the same competition in the 2021/22 season and also in the league that year – both times against his future club, Sundowns.

Since joining City, Cupido has appeared in 143 matches, scoring one goal and providing three assists. He joins Terrence Mashego, Kermit Erasmus, Bradley Ralani, Lyle Lakay, and Aubrey Ngoma in moving from City to Mamelodi Sundowns.