Cassius Mailula’s agent Karabo Mathang-Tshabuse has attributed several factors to things not working out for the striker at Toronto FC in the MLS.
Mailula, 25, re-joined Mamelodi Sundowns at the start of the current season after he mutually parted ways with Toronto midway the MLS season after he struggled for game-time since joining the club in 2023.
In the last two years, Toronto sent the Limpopo-born forward to respective loans at Wydad AC in the Botola League and Kortrijk in Belgium. Since his return to the Betway Premiership, Mailula has scored three goals in four matches across two competitions.
His agent told Andile Ncube on Sport Night Amplified that among other factors, Mailula didn’t fit into the coach’s plans in America and that she’s humble enough to admit they could have done things differently.
“To be honest, I think it’s not one answer that will fit this puzzle it’s layered and it’s nuanced,” said Mathang-Tshabuse.
“Toronto, the recruiting department wanted him it did not translate into the coaching department. And sometimes that is the issue even locally, when you are told he’s the ‘chairman’s boy’, you know the ‘coach’s boy’. So, I think there was a little bit of that struggle, a little bit of also his temperament.
“You know, as a football player, he’s a little short, he’s a little bit stout he plays differently. He’s the man who you’re going to find in the box to tap in. You know he’s the tap in specialist, whereas you need to understand what you’re bringing in. And in Toronto, it’s a little bit of like from defence line all the way up to the final third you need to be running in and out of that.
“And I think that maybe we were too quick to sign up because the technical team said he’s our number one without really, engineering it in such a way that he could maybe be loaned and come back, and maybe that’s what we needed to do. And I’m humble enough to say maybe that’s what we should have done, but I don’t regret it.
“We do have those conversations. We don’t regret the move because of what it’s produced. But obviously, there is desires of maybe I wish we could have done this differently. So, it’s not necessarily regretting the move, but just tempering it differently, so he can return sooner or go to Wydad earlier.
“He had a phenomenal time at Wydad with Thembinkosi Lorch, you know, and so I think that in the greatest scheme of things, even though there’s no regrets, there’s always lessons.”
Did you know that the iDiski Times Digital Newspaper is completely free! Download it now by clicking the button below or fill in the form to have it sent to you every week.