Monnapule Saleng off the hook? Latest on Sundowns ‘bad boy’

Monnapule Saleng might still have a future at Mamelodi Sundowns after the winger was spotted in training on Wednesday.

Saleng has been missing from the horizon since August when coach Miguel Cardoso revealed that he had been frozen out of the squad due to disciplinary issues.

Monnapule Saleng of Mamelodi Sundowns trainning . — Monnapule Saleng of Mamelodi Sundowns trainning. Image: Mamelodi Sundowns

Cardoso confirmed that Saleng has been removed from first-team training due to several disciplinary issues and appeared to have given up when he said it was now a club matter and out of his hands.

Why Saleng was frozen out

“I don’t want to speak too much about that because at the moment Saleng is a club issue, not a coach’s issue,” Cardoso stated at the time as quoted by iDiski Times.

Monnapule Saleng in full training with Mamelodi Subdowns ahead of the #MTN8 final against Orlando Pirates.#Masandawana | @iDiskiTimes pic.twitter.com/AHCK5OQd6D
— Lorenz Köhler (@Lorenz_KO) October 7, 2026

“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,” he explained.

Saleng had been accused of failing to report for the club’s CAF Champions League final second leg and missing the club’s pre-season tour of Austria.

Mamelodi Sundowns winger Monnapule Saleng training. Image: Mamelodi Sundowns

A frustrated Cardoso then removed him from the squad, saying he could not tolerate a player who violated team rules multiple times.

Ex-Pirates star back in training

“We tried to push him so much towards 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,” Cardoso explained.

Monnapule Saleng warming up for Mamelodi Sundowns. . Image: Mamelodi Sundowns

“When a player systematically breaks these kinds of things… we don’t know what we can count on,” he said. “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.”

However, on Wednesday, Saleng was spotted in training with the rest of the squad ahead of the MTN8 against his former club Orlando Pirates on Saturday, hinting at a possible change of heart from coach Cardoso.