Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi says the reason for George Maluleka’s lack of game time at the club is largely due to injuries.

Maluleka joined the Brazilians in 2020 from Kaizer Chiefs in a widely publicised transfer and Mngqithi said since his arrival at Chloorkop he has been dogged by injuries.

After a frustrating spell, 33-year-old Maluleka is going through a revival, having started in Sundowns’ last two matches against Swallows in the league and Al-Merrikh in the Caf Champions League.

“I speak to George a lot, we have supported him a lot on his journey with the other coaches,” said Mngqithi as the Brazilians prepared to take on amateur side Summerfield Dynamos in their Nedbank Cup quarterfinal at Loftus on Saturday (6pm).

“Not playing at Sundowns has not been because he is not capable or he was not fitting in and a lot of people tend to make that mistake and it has never been down to that.

“There are a few instances that I can mention, he has been one of the most unlucky players that I have ever worked with since I joined Sundowns.

“I think on three or four occasions, he was already in the team to play against Baroka, TS Galaxy and there are certain matches that I can count, but he got injured on the last day of training.

“He is already in the team and in that last training match he gets injured and in a sad way. The last one I remember, he was on the right channel of the training pitch and he was trying to pass to Pavol Šafranko.

“It was the last action of the training session and he was trying to pass the ball to Pavol, a good pass behind the defence, then the next thing George is on the floor.

“We asked what happened, it was quadriceps, he has had those unfortunate situations and they were coming thick and fast.”

Mngqithi added that Maluleka has worked hard to regain sharpness.

“He has worked hard to get himself into the team. He understood early how difficult it was going to be for him to get into our team in the shape he was in when he arrived.

“I am sure you can see how much weight he has lost, he is working hard and he is a disciplined professional. No wonder so many people are interested in seeing him play and no wonder his team mates are supportive because they know the journey he has travelled.

“It has been a rough journey that you would say why this boy has so much bad luck, but he has been working hard and physically everybody can see he is not the same George you have seen over the past three seasons.

“He is a totally different player, physically, he has lost a lot of weight and he is looking very mobile and we are hoping he can maintain it and stay on the pitch as much as he can.

“That also says to us that we have gained one or two players at the end of the season. We have gained George, we have gained Lebo from a long term injury and Gaston is also coming back to help the team.

"Those are positives for us, because when you lose Rivaldo Coetzee you ask yourself what is going to happen? But you find yourself gaining players such as George and Lebohang Maboe, Gaston Sirino and Erwin Saavedra."

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