Cardoso speaks highly of new signing, Van Rooyen

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has opened up on the integration process of new signing Deano Van Rooyen.

Van Rooyen was acquired as an emergency signing shortly after he was released by Orlando Pirates, as a free agent, after the injury to regular right-back Khuliso Mudau.

Speaking to journalists after the 3-0 win over Siwelele FC on Wednesday, Cardoso spoke highly of the former Stellenbosch FC captain, as they look to get him up to speed on match fitness and club culture.

Read: Cardoso: You allow people to be suspicious

"Obviously he is a quality player, his career speaks for him, and we need to integrate him as best as possible and as quickly as possible. Also, we trust the players that we have, as you saw, and we will continue to trust," said Cardoso.

"But we need more options, we need to bring quality but also numbers so in case of injury we don't look into the sky and we're out of options.

"He will be ready pretty quick. He is not fat at the moment, so there are not a lot of worries on his condition regarding body composition. It's obviously a matter of physically picking the pace to play games.

"Today, he played in the morning already in a friendly that we had – it was just 50 minutes –together with the boys who were not in the match today.

Read: Notable names who joined Downs from Chiefs amid Cele switch

“And he will, for sure, in proper time understand what we want from the position. He is versatile and clever and [has] a lot of experience, so he will understand very quickly whatever we ask from him.

"We also decided to take him on camp, so he was with the team. So, he left in the morning and came back so that we integrate him into the group as quickly as possible. It's a social process that needs to happen also.

“It's obvious, everyone knows him, they are friends," added the Portuguese coach.

"It's a nice thing that doesn't happen in other countries. In South Africa, players have a friendly relation even when they play in teams that are rivals. We see that after the matches, it's clear, so it's easier for them to integrate."

Related tags

Deano Van Rooyen Mamelodi Sundowns Miguel Cardoso Orlando Pirates