Mannapule Saleng: Cardoso reveals when Sundowns will unleash ex-Pirates star

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has revealed the timelines for Monnapule Saleng’s recovery from injury.

Saleng made a surprise switch to Sundowns from Orlando Pirates this month but arrived at Chloorkop while injured, having sustained a quad injury while playing for Orbit College, where he was on loan for the first half of this season.

Sundowns still signed him nonetheless and the club is now helping him through rehabilitation.

That ruled him out of Sundowns’ match against his former side Orbit College, which the Brazilians won 2-0 on Monday night, and Cardoso has now shed light on when he hopes to have him fit.

When is ex-Pirates star expected to be fit?

“Unfortunately, Saleng is injured. He is not ready to give his services to the club. It will take some time and the patience we need is to bring the player to his best level,” Cardoso told the media.

“So he needs to recover from the injuries he has which is coming from the past but the injuries he has are things that will recover with the help of the medical department.

Miguel Cardoso explains why they signed Monnapule Saleng.

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“Signing him in this condition is also a word of trust on the boy, our medical department and what we are going to do together.

“It is not a big issue. We believe, maximum, let us make it very negative…in two months, he will be performing or able to perform for Sundowns but we hope it will be less.”

Cardoso on why Sundowns signed Saleng

Cardoso also explained why Sundowns signed the former Pirates winger at a time when few expected such a transfer could happen.

“I don’t need to speak about his quality, you know the quality that he has. I won’t speak about what happened at Pirates. It doesn’t have anything to do with me,” added the Portuguese coach.

“What is important to know is we wanted to sign a winger and a quick, aggressive player, who can bring something different from what we had in our squad.

“It’s important that the coach has different tools to manage different opponents and characteristics of games. So the decision to bring Saleng was a sporting decision from the club that obviously I had a say in.”