Vilify him any way it suits you, but to me he remains a rare hero because he does not shy away from telling the truth as it is. I am talking about Orlando Pirates co-coach Mandla Ncikazi (refers to Sowetan 29/04/2022, back page).

We can all agree that Sundowns have built a formidable soccer team, a team brimming with talented and quality players. And they deserve kudos for that. But it is also common knowledge that Sundowns have “deep pockets” and have been able to sign quality players from within the country and from outside, which is no sin.

However, they have become ruthless and greedy; for too much money and too much power can easily corrupt. Even some honest supporters have alluded to the fact that their team is “over-signing”. As soon as a quality player raises his head and Bucs or Kaizer Chiefs want to sign the player, Sundowns pops up with their fat cheque book and sign the player.

The obvious question is: what happens to the many quality players they already have in the same positions, say midfielders? Many a quality player at Sundowns end up begging to be loaned out so that they can have game time.

There is a story that appeared in Soccer Laduma about the talented 21-year-old Promise Mkhuma, signed by Sundowns in 2020. Promise (despite his name) is hibernating somewhere at Chloorkop and his agent is desperately looking for a way to have him loaned out as his contract lasts until 2025. And this is not an isolated case. 

To me, this unrestrained “over-signing” at Chloorkop has consequences too ghastly to contemplate for the future of our country’s soccer. Obviously, other teams are being weakened to the detriment of our senior Bafana Bafana team. 

Alexius Phiri, email