Rulani Mokwena won’t rule out Mamelodi Sundowns signing a new striker

Rulani Mokwena won’t rule out Mamelodi Sundowns signing a new striker

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena has left the door open for the arrival of a striker at the club during the upcoming January transfer window.

However, he concedes they are not under pressure to reinforce even with recurring injuries to their two main goal-getters Peter Shalulile and Abubaker Nassir.

The pair have already missed a lot of matches this season, with the latter having last featured for the DStv Premiership title holders in early September. 

The transfer window will re-open on 1 January and SABC Sport understands that Downs are assessing a few options, but the Sundowns coach argues the four-week-long registration period is usually quite complex.

"It's not an emergency situation, no, but for sure we will look at areas in the team and try to see whether or not we can improve, and if the striking department is one of those areas then we will try our level best," said Mokwena.

"But the January market is such a difficult market because there's also no time for adaptation. But something interesting might come up and be available, so let's wait and see."

Downs still have options with fringe players like Thabiso Kutumela and Gift Motupa, while the young Cassius Mailula has stepped up so far and Mokwena has revealed another Diski Challenge graduate Jerome Karelse has been doing well with the first team.

"We are of course always looking to improve the squad, we are very fortunate that we've developed a bit of flexibility amongst our players," he added.

"Not only have we given an opportunity to a youngster like Cassius, we had a young boy called Jerome from our DDC team with us and scoring goals in Polokwane and he's someone we want to develop and try to have [in the team]."