Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso says the current group of players unsettled over transfer talk has not and will not affect the squad and their ambitions this season.
The likes of Khuliso Mudau, Lucas Ribeiro Costa, Thapelo Maseko, Kutlwano Letlhaku and Peter Shalulile have all been subject of potential exits from the club in the current window.
While the Costa saga has taken a major twist, as the player has sought to the FIFA Tribunal to terminate his contract with ‘just cause’ as he looks to force a transfer to Qatar.
However, Cardoso says they are weathering the proverbial storm, and have shown that with an unbeaten start to the 2025/26 season, winning two games and drawing two – one of which was the first leg MTN8 semi-final 1-1 result against Orlando Pirates.
“Sundowns is preserving everything that might be happening and keeping it indoors, the locker room is impossible to be broken by this kind of thing, the locker room is too strong, the values inside the club are too strong,” Cardoso said ahead of the second leg this weekend.
“These kinds of events… the focus is so strong on becoming better, working to improve in every match, and the time is so small, the levels of concentration of course must be so high, we don’t have to react to what happens around [the team].
“We have the philosophy, if someone falls, two should rise, it’s how we develop and shape character, and I think that’s how the story of Mamelodi Sundowns has been written, by strong characters, by strong values – by strong people.
“And whatever happens, it’s always solved inside the doors, in the best way possible and for sure in the right moment, spoken publicly.”
Sundowns host Pirates at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday afternoon at 15h00.
