Shalulile had surgery, Mokwena says, dismissing reports striker wants out of Sundowns

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena says striker Peter Shalulile had sports hernia surgery this week that will keep him out of action for an unspecified period.

Shalulile missed Sundowns’ last five matches in all competitions, including Tuesday night's 5-0 humbling of Maritzburg United and the games against Orlando Pirates, Marumo Gallants and back-to-back Champions League qualifiers against Seychelles minnows La Passe.

Downs — after a surprise shake-up of their coaching staff on Monday that saw Mokwena made head coach, Steve Komphela promoted to first team coach and Manqoba Mngqithi demoted to senior coach — were in form against Maritzburg at Harry Gwala Stadium.

“He [Shalulile] is being attended to by specialists. He has undergone surgery but it’s not too much of a concern,” Mokwena said while dismissing reports the Namibian hitman is trying to force a move away from Chloorkop.

“Hopefully, we will get him back as soon as possible, but he is not available until the Fifa World Cup break is over. It was a bit of a difficult diagnosis related to sports hernia but not necessarily sports hernia, a bit complicated and that’s why he got to see three specialists.

“Fortunately, he is an incredible human being, he is a good boy and without putting too much pressure on him, you can expect him sooner than we anticipate. It is not as big as we initially thought and the surgery was successful and, hopefully, we can have him on the green grass sooner than we think.”

Sundowns' final game before the two-month Fifa break for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is against Royal AM at Chatsworth Stadium on Saturday (8pm).