Why Cardoso says Sundowns need to shift scouting focus back to the continent

Over the past few seasons, Mamelodi Sundowns have not recruited African players but coach Miguel Cardoso says they have not turned a blind eye on continental talent.

The last time the Brazilians recruited a reputable player from the continent was when they signed Abdelmounaim Boutouil from Morocco in in 2022.

But they have gone big in South America where they sometimes got lucky with quality players like Gaston Sirino, Ricardo Nascimento, Marcelo Allende, Arthur Sales and Lucas Ribeiro.

They has also been flops like Mauricio Affonso, Matias Esquivel, Junior Mendieta, Erwin Saavedra, Lucas Suarez and Ali Meza.

This transfer window they have gone the European route to sign Miguel Silva and Nuno Santos from Portugal with the latter impressing in his last match against Richards Bay where he provided two assists.

In recent years, Sundowns have been home to South Americans Leonardo Castro, Bryan Aldave, Jorge Acuna, Vincente Principiano, Eduardo Ferreira, Jose Torrealba and Rafael Dudamel with varying levels of success.

Their decision to venture into South American and European market has been questioned because those players have often struggled in the Champions League.

The general sentiment is they need to recruit players with proven Champions League experience at important positions.

Last season, the Brazilians made it to the champions League final but they lost to Pyramids who had Blati Touré of Burkina Faso in the heart of the midfield and Fiston Mayele from the DR Congo.

Mayele ended last season’s Champions League campaign as top goal scorer with nine strikes including one in the final against Sundowns in Cairo.

The situation of Nuno and Miguel is not the same. Nuno was training and playing regularly while Miguel was training regularly but not playing official matches.

—  Miguel Cardoso

The situation of Nuno and Miguel is not the same. Nuno was training and playing regularly while Miguel was training regularly but not playing official matches.

“Unfortunately we could not conclude some of the business that we wanted (on the continent),” said Miguel after the Betway Premiership win over Richards Bay at the weekend.

“The fact things at Sundowns were a little bit late, was not because we wanted it that way. Not having players from the beginning, has an impact on the team.

“The best that could have happened was to have new players from the first day when we started. We knew the quality we wanted to strengthen the team but we could not get the players that we wanted.

“We approached a couple of clubs in Africa and unfortunately it was not possible to conclude those deals. We had two wonderful targets but it was not possible to get those players because their clubs did not want to release them.”

Cardoso added it is increasingly difficult to recruit players from the continent because they are lured to Europe.

“On the continent is not easy because African football is highly scouted by mostly European teams. It is not easy for us t o compete with some of the best clubs from Europe that come to pick the best young talent here.

“We had a couple of targets but the most important thing now is that we have what we wanted. We still have one spot for a foreigner but we will leave that for the market in January to see where we will be needing to reinforce. We have attempted to sign players on the Africans market.”

Cardoso went further to explain how they scouted Santos and Silva.

“The situation of Nuno and Miguel is not the same. Nuno was training and playing regularly while Miguel was training regularly but not playing official matches.

“He (Silva) was training with the team but he was not getting enough opportunities and it was fortune for us because we got an opportunity in the last minute to bring him in as a free agent player.

“He has already trained with us, he went with us to camp to adjust to his teammates, get used to routines and he will play friendly matches to get minutes.

“We have a full week and lets see how he respond to training sessions, I cannot say whether he will be among the group of players for the weekend.

“Our intention is to bring the players as soon as possible to the team. If he shows adaptation and capacity to play 30 or 40 minutes we won’t have any problem.

“We need on the front, we are lacking capacity substitute players because against Richards Bay we only had Bennet Mokoena and Maseko as forwards on the bench and Peter Shalulile as the striker.”

Reuters