Mamelodi Sundowns continued their ambitious squad-building for the season by securing the services of Brazilian forward Arthur Sales who became their record signing. Here’s a look at how much the club paid to secure his signature.
The 22-year-old arrived from Belgian side Lommel SK, joining his compatriot Lucas Ribeiro, who signed for Sundowns in the past season from fellow Belgian club SK Beveren.
Both players were brought in through TransferRoom, a global transfer facilitation platform that Sundowns joined in 2022.
The club has used TransferRoom to sign several international talents, including Marcelo Allende (R57 million), Matias Esquivel (R45 million), and the South African winger Tashreeq Matthews (R29.4 million).
Sales' transfer fee of R63 million surpasses Allende's previous record.
WHAT SUNDOWNS SPORTING DIRECTOR SAID ABOUT TRANSFERS DONE THROUGH TRANSFER ROOM
“We have, based on TransferRoom, done a few deals over the last two years,” said Berg as per TransferRoom.
“For example, Marcelo Allende, Matías Esquivel and Tashreeq Matthews.
“We are here to do business and we are quite successful at it. That's why you come to the TransferRoom Summit.
“When we are here and we have these opportunities to have 23 meetings over two days with 23 different clubs or agents, it's an opportunity that we have to take.
“So what I'm doing now is, I will write an email to our data department and say, ‘Look, these are the players that I have been suggested. Can you have a look at it?’
“If there are one or two of these players where we say, ‘OK, this could actually be interesting’, I will try to set up new meetings immediately with those clubs or agents already tomorrow.”
Berg added: “It gives us a platform to make our horizon and our possibilities much bigger.
“It's a lot about information and building relationships and partnerships, for us from South Africa.
“It is very important because South Africa is far away. It's far away from Europe and it's far away from South America, which are generally the markets.
“We are looking at both buying players but also selling players. So to come here, for me it's an opportunity without travelling more than once to meet a lot of people and get some good connections.”
