Mamelodi Sundowns are killing SA soccer

Patrice Motsepe publicly declared, a couple of years ago, that Sundowns would play their part for the country by providing Bafana Bafana with outstanding players for the World Cup. However, what has happened is actually the exact opposite because they have become the place where footballers’ careers die.

The club’s policy of willy-nilly buying any player that is talked about has resulted in a bloated squad of players, bought without strategy. As a result, once promising players such as Thando Mgomeni and Manqoba “Shakes” Ngwenya have been wasted and their economic value has plummeted.

Lungisani Ndlela and Koketso Mmotong were players that were bought for big money by local standards only to see their value depreciating as they sat on the bench year-in, year-out. If Sundowns were really interested in developing South African soccer they would have allowed other clubs to buy these players giving them regular game-time which would in turn have developed their games as footballers.

This would have then allowed these players to reach their potential and ultimately increase the pool of players available for the national team making it even more competitive than it is. Players should also strike a balance between making a quick buck at Sundowns and choosing a club that enables them to develop first to a point where they are ultimately good enough to possibly even secure an overseas move.

This is the kind of long-term thinking that players need to adopt. It also goes back to a topic I covered previously about players doing more research on the clubs that want to buy them to ensure that there is a cultural fit between the two parties.

Kaka declined a GBP109 million pound move to Manchester City because he was not convinced that their project would have fitted with his aspirations hence his decision to go to Real Madrid who he said had a tradition of winning titles stretching back over a century.

This is not to say that players should not accept a life-changing, big-money move to Sundowns. Rather, they should assess whether the other players there will complement their style and whether they agree and conform to the sporting philosophies of the club.

This presents another problem, the lack of a stable environment for coaches to carry out a longer term project means a constant chopping and changing of coaches which results in certain players who fitted in the plans of a sacked coach being deemed surplus to the requirements of the new coach.

These are all factors that players should consider before signing on the dotted line at clubs like Mamelodi Sundowns.