Motsepe adamant Mamelodi Sundowns want to emulate Manchester United, Barcelona, Arsenal & likes

Recently, defending Premier Soccer League champions Mamelodi Sundowns made a major step in their development program.

The Brazilians invested heavily in the Global Soccer Schools which was previously affiliated to a now-defunct top-tier outfit SuperSport United. Despite their initial promise to continue with developing young talents.

Masandawana coach Thlopie Motsepe insists the intentional move is meant to emulate the biggest and elite teams in the world.

Sundowns ready to help players develop to great heights

“The whole purpose of Mamelodi Sundowns Soccer Schools is to continue the great work done by Nick, Stef and the global soccer sports team, as well as SuperSport United, we’ve always long admired and respected the work they did in helping young footballers progress through their system and find their way into the first team,” Motsepe said in a presser.

“That is something at Mamelodi Sundowns, we have tried to replicate, we want to try and embrace and make sure we can continue that pattern of seeing players go through the ranks of the Soccer Schools, into the academies, and find their way into the first teams.

“Then of course represent the national team, and the reason why we chose the venue, it’s close to the club, we wanted to make sure the players can be here and help support the initiative and give it the send-off it deserves.

“But it’s also important that we’re at the various other launches that will be happening, as we rebrand the soccer schools to make sure the different franchises across the country get the same send-off and continue with the same message we want to create,” he added.

We want to emulate Arsenal, Real Madrid, Man United…

“We’re very excited with what we’ve started, but it’s also what Nick said, it’s a continuation and maybe a beginning of something, that we hope will be truly beneficial for South African football going forward,” he continued.

“I think we take a lot of solace from models that we see in football clubs around the world, big successful football clubs that also attract, talented players to the club, like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Arsenal – they have the resources to attract that talent, they do buy players but you still see very talented players emerge from their academy,” Motsepe explained.

“And the special thing is; you see this as supporters of these clubs, they are so passionate and feel so much for players who come from the academy, one of their own, so for us it’s imperative, we want to continue, we want to make sure we find those talents, good enough to break into the first team,” Motsepe concluded.