There’s always been questions about the job description of Mamelodi Sundowns’ sporting director Flemming Berg, who joined the club in April.
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Club chair Thlopie Motsepe says the former Chelsea scout forms part of the conversations where the recruitment is concerned.
“It’s important to take into consideration what our coaches have in their vision and the way that they play because certain players fit in Sundowns’ style of football so it is important that our coaches guide us,” says Motsepe.
“Now that we have the services of Flemming Berg with the amount of knowledge that he has and talent identification is one of his strong points. He is going to step into that role and provide us with a lot of consultation and guidance in terms of getting players,” says Motsepe.
With Sipho Mbule being the club’s first signing in this transfer window, Motsepe says there will be more players coming in and some might be promoted from the club’s development.
“We always want to see more academy players playing for the senior team. It is disappointing to not have as many players as we had in the past with the likes of Percy Tau, Promise Mkhuma and more of those. This is part of the reason why the sporting director is part of the mix. When you work with youngsters, it is a long term journey,” he says.
“When it comes to attracting talent to Sundowns, we don’t necessarily use financial muscle all the time.
“It is also about what the player wants and we won all of these trophies because of the ambition of the kind of players that we have. The South African football market is developing.”
Part of the club’s extensive recruitment is to strengthen the side for the Caf Champions League, where they suffered an embarrassing exit this year.
“Exiting the group stages the way they did disappointed everyone because the public and the fans knew that they could have done more,” he says.
“We have a very talented squad and it is in the nature of Sundowns to see how we can improve. As the transfer season progresses, you can expect to see one or two new faces at the club.”
