Mailula’s Toronto FC struggles explained by agent after Sundowns return

Cassius Mailula’s lack of regular playing time at Toronto FC was caused by a combination of factors, including a disconnect between the club’s recruitment department and coaching staff, according to his agent Karabo Mathang-Tshabuse.

The 25-year-old striker returned to Mamelodi Sundowns at the beginning of the current season after mutually agreeing to end his spell with the Major League Soccer club midway through the campaign. Mailula had joined Toronto FC in 2023 but found opportunities limited.

During the past two years, Toronto FC also sent the Limpopo-born forward out on loan, first to Wydad AC in the Botola League and later to Kortrijk in Belgium.

Mailula has made an immediate impact since returning to the Betway Premiership, scoring three goals in four appearances across two competitions.

Speaking to Andile Ncube onSport Night Amplified, Mathang-Tshabuse said Mailula’s profile did not fully match the demands of the team in Toronto. She also acknowledged that the player’s move might have been managed 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.”

Mathang-Tshabuse said Toronto FC’s style required players to contribute over a wide area of the pitch, from the defensive line through to the final third. In her view, Mailula’s strengths are more closely associated with his movement and finishing inside the penalty area.

She added that the decision to complete the transfer may have been taken too quickly, without creating a clear development plan that could have allowed Mailula to spend time on loan before returning to Toronto FC.

“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.”

The agent said the move itself was not viewed as a mistake, despite the difficulties Mailula experienced in MLS. Instead, she described it as an experience that had produced valuable lessons and prompted reflection on how his career could have been handled.

“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.”

Mailula enjoyed a particularly successful period at Wydad AC, where he played alongside fellow South African Thembinkosi Lorch.

“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.”