MAMELODI Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi has confirmed that Uruguay striker Mauricio Affonso will still be unavailable for the next three to four months.
Affonso, who joined Sundowns before last term got underway from Peruvian side Allianza Lima, has been hampered by a series of injuries.
Even when he joined the club, he suffered an injury at training and Sundowns had to wait for him to be fully fit.
When he recovered, he came in handy as he scored twice to Sundowns come from behind to defeat Maritzburg United in the Telkom Knockout final in December 2019.
But he didn’t help them much in the league campaign and also in the Nedbank Cup.
The 28-year-old’s last appearance for the Tshwane giants was against Wydad Casablanca in the Caf Champions League in February last year.
He then went home in Uruguay to take care of the injury which he picked up at training.
Mngqithi said they will wait for Affonso to be fully fit because every time they rush him the injury flares up at training, resulting in another long lay-off.
“Affonso is still out. We are not really sure when he’s going to come back because he always breaks down when we are hoping that he’s coming in,” said Mngqithi.
“He must recover fully and be ready to help us. We believe in the next two to three or four months (he’ll be back). But it is a tough one for us to call.”
Mnqgithi also said Gift Motupa, who joined them from now defunct Bidvest Wits during the off season, has started training with the club.
Motupa, just like Affonso, has not played for Sundowns this season because of the unspecified injury.
What also derailed Motupa’s progress is the fact that he was involved in a car accident that left him with injuries.
“Motupa is probably going to get to full training next week,” said Mngqithi.
However, Sundowns are clearly not missing the duo. Peter Shalulile, Themba Zwane and Kermit Erasmus have stepped up and their 13 of the team’s 17 league goals scored so far have guided The Brazilians to the summit of the DStv Premiership table with 21 points from nine games.
