Pitso Mosimane has opened up over how he forced one of his players at Mamelodi Sundowns to return a luxury car that he had just bought.
The veteran coach says the player had just signed for the club and one of the first things he did was to buy the car, which was more valuable than those driven by others at Sundowns.
However, Mosimane felt that the player lacked humility and feared what such a move would do to his team-mates, forcing him to return the vehicle.
“One of my players bought the biggest car in the car park, I do not have it myself. I made him return it,” Mosimane said on SuperSport TV’s Versus 6 show where he was paired with ex-SuperSport United boss Gavin Hunt.
Pitso felt the player lacked humility
“Show humility, show that you came to the right place. Play a little bit, score goals for us. You just came and you are bringing the biggest car.
“What are you saying to these players that I have? You are saying to them I have got the biggest car. It is not like in the UK where everybody can buy a Ferrari, Lamborghini whether I am on the bench because they earn so much money and they are okay.”
Mosimane also felt the player had made a wrong financial decision as the luxury car was something he could not afford.
“Play for it, show us that this is why you drive this car. Ask my players at Sundowns, there is one player I told; ‘you have to return that car’,” he went on.
Was Jingles right to issue such a directive?
“If you want to play in this team, return that car and come with a car according to what you earn. By the way, he was not earning that much to buy that car.”
Hunt weighed in on the move, saying it is one way of setting the right culture at a club and once you have enough leaders in the dressing room, it does not need the coach to issue such directives.
“The culture of the club will determine that as well. The players in the dressing room will say; ‘Hey my brother, you cannot be driving this car.’ It does not necessarily have to come from the coach,” said Hunt.
Mosimane enjoyed eight trophy-laden years at Sundowns between 2012 and 2020, among them five PSL titles and a CAF Champions League before he left for Al Ahly of Egypt.
