Mamelodi Sundowns winger Monnapule Saleng’s future at the club is increasingly uncertain after head coach Miguel Cardoso said the player had repeatedly broken team rules and failed to report for duty on several occasions.
The 28-year-old is no longer training with Sundowns’ senior squad following a series of disciplinary problems earlier this year. Cardoso previously disclosed that one of those incidents involved Saleng failing to attend the second leg of the CAF Champions League final in May.
Speaking before Thursday’s MTN8 semi-final against Golden Arrows, Cardoso said responsibility for resolving the situation now rested with Sundowns’ management rather than the coaching staff.
“It was never a coach issue,” the Sundowns coach said on Saleng.
“He was always a player we gave a lot, a lot, a lot of effort. We tried to push him so much toward the group, toward the dynamic of the group, towards the behaviours that a professional player has to have, the mental stability that a professional player has to have.
“But inside the group we have no issues, we have a lot of understanding about what are the rules and our locker room has rules, the players establish those, and relate, and when a player systematically breaks these kind of things towards the teammates, towards the coaches, towards the club, we don’t know what we can count on.”
Cardoso said Saleng’s absences were not isolated incidents, claiming the winger had sometimes failed to appear after being selected for matches.
“Imagine you train all of the week normal and then you put his name on a list, and the day we are waiting for him in the bus he just doesn’t appear,” he said as per Diski Times.
“So these things did not happen once, did not happen twice, three, four times… being the last to arrive, the first to go away.”
The Portuguese coach also described the effort made to help Saleng settle into the Sundowns environment after his move from Orlando Pirates.
Cardoso recalled attempting to personally involve the player in the squad’s group culture, stressing that integration required commitment from Saleng as well as support from the club.
“I don’t know if you remember, but my assistant showed me there was a moment that I was dancing with him in the middle of the circle myself – trying to make him exactly understand how we wanted to integrate him in the family.
“But to be part of the family, you also need to want to be in the dynamic of the family. And it’s now the club’s time to speak about because it’s a club-issue and no more a coach’s questions.”
Saleng joined Sundowns from Orlando Pirates, but his current absence from first-team training and the continued focus on his disciplinary record have cast doubt over whether he will remain part of the club’s plans. Cardoso made clear that any further decision would now be handled by the Sundowns hierarchy.
