Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has detailed why midfielder Miguel Reisinho struggled to adjust to life at Chloorkop during his time at the club.
The 27-year-old star spent a season at the Brazilians following a free transfer in September 2025 after leaving then-Portuguese Primeira Liga side Boavista FC. But he managed just six Betway Premiership appearances for Sundowns, plus three in cup games, and featured five times in the CAF Champions League.
As reported by FARPost in July, Reisinho and Masandawana had agreed to part ways, and he did not return for pre-season training ahead of the current 2026/27 campaign. The Brazilians then confirmed his departure last month, and signing a direct midfield replacement cannot be ruled out.
However, as Reisinho has left, his compatriot Nuno Santos has remained at the club. He has played just two of seven Sundowns games this season.
CARDOSO ON WHY MIGUEL REISINHO FAILED AT SUNDOWNS
Signing for Sundowns was the first time the former Portugal Under-18, 19 and 20 international played outside his home country. In explaining Reisinho’s situation, Cardoso dives into the cultural element at play.
“Regarding players, you need to be open-hearted to a country that is completely different from yours. You need to embrace and enjoy,” Cardoso told journalists in a press conference on Sunday.
“I have a lot of experience of being abroad; I have been in Ukraine, France, Spain, Greece, Tunisia and here [in SA]. I love the difference because I think the difference makes me a better human being. But I need to embrace it. I need to accept the difference and feel happy that I’m amongst you, that you are different from me, that you drink and eat different food, and you listen to different music. I love that.”
He added: “Sometimes I ask, take me to a place I don’t know, where I can feel discomfort, because I love that environment. But you really need to have that mindset. If you start denying everything, denying the music, and you don’t dance in the locker room, you don’t absorb the things that are more beautiful in South Africa; it will be difficult for you daily.
“Sundowns never bring a player who has no quality. It never happens. He may not perform, but it is not because he does not have quality.”
DIFFERENCES IN PORTUGUESE AND SA FOOTBALL, ACCORDING TO MIGUEL CARDOSO
The former Esperance coach also stated that Reisinho fitted the profile of a player Sundowns were in the market for. But he mentions adaptation and mentality as major drawbacks for the midfielder.
“There is also a lot of profile: how he is in the locker room, how he relates with the people. Can he accept? But you never control that limit because it is not the same as going to England, Germany, or Portugal,” Cardoso went on.
“There are differences, but the level of differences is not so impactful. When you come to South Africa, it’s quite different. In Portugal, you never play football on a dry pitch; the game is much quicker.
“But the rhythm here is sometimes very high because the game is here and there. The tempo of the game in Portugal is very different.
“Sometimes the profile of a player is obviously suitable or not, but what speaks for a player is what he has here [in the mind]. I’m not saying that Miguel was weak because he was not weak. But the level of capacity and adaptation was not enough for him to really make it. You need to understand that resilience and negativity are very important. How am I going to handle one month without playing?”
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