Sundowns coach addresses Thembinkosi Lorch’s future

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has indicated that the club will soon provide an update on Thembinkosi Lorch’s future.

The 32-year-old winger was on loan at Wydad Athletic Club last season, where he reunited with coach Rulani Mokwena.

Lorch was a standout performer for Wydad at the recent 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, leading to reports that the Moroccan giants wanted to sign him permanently. However, sources indicate that Sundowns rejected Wydad’s offer, as they were unwilling to pay a transfer fee. Lorch has since been instructed to return to training with Sundowns.

Cardoso clarified that transfer decisions at Sundowns are not solely his to make. “In Sundowns, it’s not the coach that chooses the players,” he stated after his side’s MTN8 quarter-final victory over Richards Bay. He explained that player acquisitions are a collaborative effort involving the coach, sports director, board, president, and chairman.

“I don’t make this kind of thing,” Cardoso emphasised, referring to coaches demanding specific players. “We look [at] profiles, we try to select the best profiles. Then there’s a business, of course, that I have an opinion that technically I should give, and it’s in accordance that we bring players in.” He added that this thorough process, while perhaps slower, prevents the club from “wasting resources” on players they don’t truly want.

Regarding Lorch, Cardoso grouped him with other absent players like Lucas Ribeiro, Peter Shalulile, and Khuliso Mudau, stating he wouldn’t discuss their situations in detail publicly.

However, he did mention that Lorch’s “situation that comes from the past and also will be addressed and solved by the club.” He concluded by stating that “in proper time, you’ll have information that it will be public, considering he is not here for sure.”