Miguel Cardoso asserts 'Orlando Pirates don’t have anything to do with me' as he explains Mamelodi Sundowns' decision to sign injured Monnapule Saleng

Mamelodi Sundowns made a shocking transfer decision by signing Monnapule Saleng from their rivals Orlando Pirates. 

The winger arrived at Chloorkop carrying a thigh injury he picked up while on loan at Orbit College, which will delay his Sundowns debut. 

This comes as the Brazilians have already returned to competitive action following the 2025 AFCON break.  

Saleng’s move raised eyebrows further after he appeared to have been discarded by Pirates, who had sent him out on loan to Orbit. 

Sundowns have now snapped him up as they look desperate to assume firm control of the Premier Soccer League title race.  

Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has opened up on signing Saleng indicating he was a player he closely watched while he played under Jose Riveiro at Pirates.

“Saleng is an international player for South Africa, qualified player,” said Cardoso as per iDiski Times. 

“I remember when coach Jose Riveiro spoke about Saleng in the moment he started to struggle at Pirates regarding playing and not playing and being separated from the group.   

“I don’t need to speak about his quality, you know the quality that he has. I won’t speak about what happened, Pirates don’t have anything to do with me.     

“What is important to know is we wanted to sign a winger and a quick, aggressive player, who can bring something different from what we had in our squad," added the Portuguese coach.    

“It’s important that the coach has different tools to manage different opponents and characteristics of games. So the decision to bring Saleng was a sporting decision from the club that obviously I had a say in.”

 Cardoso has admitted they were aware of Saleng's fitness situation when they signed him. 

Saleng is expected to be out between six and eight weeks before he regains full fitness and that means he will be sidelined for the better part of the second half of the season.

The Portuguese coach says bringing in an injured player was a sign of faith they have in the winger.

“We have expectations for the future, but we also have patience. Unfortunately, he’s injured and not ready to give his services to the club,” said Cardoso.    

“It will take some time. We have to have patience to bring him to his best level. He needs to recover from the injury but he will recover naturally.    

“Signing him in this condition is also a word of trust on the boy, our medical department and the work we’re going to do together.”

“I’m carrying a quad injury. I sustained it playing against Magesi FC [on November 1, 2025] away, and I continued playing. During the game, I could feel the pain and the game was flowing; we were fighting for three points,” said Saleng when speaking in a Sundowns podcast. 

 “After that game, we went to play Chiefs [three days later]. I took tablets for the pain, but I didn’t make much of the pain. I started taking note of the pain during our game against Stellenbosch [on November 26].

“That is when I decided to have it checked. At Orbit, they were treating it, but I had not gone for scans. During the Stellies game, I was substituted in the second half because the pain was unbearable.

“Signing for Sundowns while carrying an injury is a sign and belief that they will be able to treat me to full recovery and get to help the team going forward.”