Mokwena explains Mamelodi Sundowns recruitment process

For a long time, Mamelodi Sundowns have always carried the tag of a team that spends a lot in the transfer market, and end up having many frustrated players on the bench and some on the stands. Of late, Downs have been spending reasonably less than they have in previous year, but that little, may still be too much. 

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This season they brought in Pavol Safranko, Grant Kekana, Divine Lunga, Thabiso Kutumela and Neo Maema, and this means Sundowns easily has about three or four quality players in each position.

However, co-head coach Rulani Mokwena explains Sundowns’ recruitment strategy, saying even now as the season starts, they are possibly looking at beefing up the squad at the end of the season.

“The recruitment process at Sundowns is quite extensive, we don’t rely on footage but we have our scouting department and we have different pairs of eyes and we have the rest of the technical team and we have enough man power in that department to be able to analyze and access, and this allows us to delve deeper into the strength of individual players,” said Mokwena.

The Downs mentor would not want to be drawn into why they would, for example, have left-back players like Lyle Lakay, Aubrey Modiba and Divine Lunga, who are all capable of walking into any other team in the premium division. Instead, Mokwena says at this point, it is all about improving the team and they could possibly delve into the market again when it opens mid-way through the season, as they could not get some of their targets in Sipho Mbule and Teboho Mokoena.  

“We are in that space where we know we can improve the team and the new players because we try to use data and we are looking at the profile of our team and where we are in relation to the numbers. From there we try to identify glaring weaknesses that we feel we can improve with recruitment because teams can improve in two ways, by working hard on the pitch or buying players. So far we are happy with the progress and the signs are there that we are on the right track, we just need to be patient.”