Mamelodi Sundowns are finalising their squad for the upcoming season, with more exits expected, but there is one player who could still stay with the Tshwane giants for the 2025/26 campaign.
Sundowns are expected back in training this week to start preparing for the new campaign, after taking part in the FIFA Club World Cup in June. This is after they had gone all the way to the CAF Champions League, playing over 50 matches in a season.
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Having already released the likes of Rivaldo Coetzee, Sipho Mbule, Lebohang Maboe, Sifiso Ngobeni, and Lucas Suarez, the club is still making decisions on the futures of some players who remain part of the team.
One of the players they let go of is goalkeeper Sanele Tshabalala, and this could be one of the reasons Reyaad Pieterse will be at the club in the coming campaign. Pieterse has been linked with an exit on numerous occasions in the past, but letting go of the goalkeeper, Soccer Laduma understands, is not as easy as it seems. And there are a few reasons for that.
Sundowns exercised the option of Jody February, but he sustained an injury, which is why he did not travel to the USA for the Club World Cup. It's unclear at this stage when he will be back to full fitness. Sundowns are unlikely to recall Ricardo Goss and Ismail Watenga, who were both out on loan last season.
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Goss wants to keep his place in the Bafana Bafana team, and going back to Sundowns would hurt his chances of making the final squad for the Africa Cup of Nations at the end of this year.
And with Denis Onyango possibly entering the final season of his playing career, Sundowns look set to hold onto the 33-year-old Pieterse, in case his services are ever needed during the campaign.
