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Losing the league title to Orlando Pirates after fourteen years of dominance was always going to force Mamelodi Sundowns into a rebuild, and the club has gone about it with the sort of intent you’d expect from a side still holding the CAF Champions League trophy. Four competitions in one campaign, a title to win back and continental silverware to defend is a lot to ask of any squad, so Manqoba Mngqithi and his technical team have gone shopping across three continents rather than sticking to one market.

Antonio van Wyk was the first man through the door, and his move tells you a fair bit about how Sundowns like to recruit these days. The 24-year-old winger left Stellenbosch for SV Ried in Austria two seasons ago and returns home a better, more rounded player for the experience. He can play off either flank or tuck inside as a number ten, which gives Mngqithi options he simply didn’t have last term when the attack leaned heavily on Lucas Ribeiro and Peter Shalulile for creativity as well as goals.

Siyanda Ndlovu’s move is the one that will sting Pirates the most. The 22-year-old had all but completed a switch to Mayfair, medical included, before changing his mind and opting for Chloorkop instead. Beating your closest rival to a player they thought they’d already secured says as much about Sundowns’ pull as it does about Ndlovu’s own thinking. He offers raw pace on the right and represents another piece of the club’s long-standing habit of stockpiling South African talent early rather than waiting for it to mature elsewhere.

Cassius Mailula’s return from Toronto FC feels overdue rather than surprising. The 25-year-old forward came through the Chloorkop academy before his Major League Soccer switch, and his time in Canada, while not without frustration, has left him sharper in front of goal and better equipped physically for the rigours of a title race. Sundowns will hope he slots back in without the adjustment period that often follows a return from abroad.

Katlego Ntsabeleng’s deal, meanwhile, has simply been made permanent rather than negotiated from scratch. The 28-year-old midfielder spent last season on loan from FC Dallas and did enough in that spell to convince the club there was no need to look elsewhere for competition in the middle of the park. He can play in front of the back four or further forward, and that flexibility matters when a squad is juggling four competitions.

Two more names have come from domestic rivals. Deano van Rooyen, formerly of Stellenbosch and most recently of Orlando Pirates, joins as a free agent at right-back, a position that has since become a source of some concern for Sundowns after Khuliso Mudau’s injury setback. Thabo Cele arrives from Kaizer Chiefs to add bite and legs in central midfield, an area already stacked with quality but never one a coach complains about strengthening further.

That leaves Thabang Matuludi, whose situation remains unresolved at the time of writing. The Polokwane City right-back has been the subject of rival bids from both Sundowns and Pirates for weeks, with the Bafana Bafana defender’s stock rising after his call-up to the national squad. Reports of an improved offer suggest Sundowns are keen to push the deal over the line, but until Polokwane and the player sign off on terms, he stays a target rather than a confirmed arrival. An earlier report also listed Mailula twice, once under Toronto FC and once as FC Toronto, the same club under two names, which is why the tally stands at seven rather than eight.

Taken together, this list of Mamelodi Sundowns new players reads less like a scattergun rebuild and more like a squad being filled in around specific gaps: pace out wide, know-how through the middle and cover at full-back. Whether it’s enough to win back the league while holding onto continental honours is a different question, but the business done so far suggests Chloorkop isn’t short of ambition.