Miguel Cardoso adamant Khuliso Mudau & Lucas Ribeiro's transfer saga won't affect Mamelodi Sundowns' dressing room - 'Locker room is impossible to be broken by this kind of thing'

Mamelodi Sundowns duo Khuliso Mudau and Lucas Ribeiro are desperate to leave the team for another challenge.

The Bafana Bafana international has on several occasions been linked with a move to English football owing to his quality, while the South American is heavily associated with Qatar SC.

Neither player has played for the club this season.

Ribeiro, reportedly, has three years left on his deal with the club, while Mudau's initial deal expired, but the team exercised their option to extend his deal by a year.

In their reaction to want-away stars, Masandawana hinted they are not ready to let them go.

They said, in their letter to the public, that the team is focused on realising their objectives.

Coach Miguel Cardoso insists that it will not affect the dressing room.

“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,” he told the media.

“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," Cardoso concluded.

Sundowns are set to tackle Orlando Pirates in the second leg of the MTN8 on Saturday without Mudau and Ribeiro.

However, the management needs to handle the issue with all the sobriety it deserves since it might end up affecting the other players in future.