Secret Footballer

This month’s Secret Footballer says South African fans must be patient with Percy Tau after his return to Brighton & Hove Albion.

“THOSE WERE THINGS THAT HE WAS NOT USED TO AND HAD TO DEAL WITH.”

After spending two-and-a-half seasons in Belgium on loan, Percy Tau finally got his dream move to Brighton & Hove Albion in the English Premiership after finally being granted a work permit. The 26-year-old made his debut in the FA Cup third round against Newport County. And Our Secret Footballer, who played in Europe, urges South Africans to be patient with the Bafana Bafana star player.

I’m very happy for Percy, he deserves his move to Brighton & Hove Albion, it’s long overdue and congratulations to him. When I look back from his time in Belgium, I think he struggled at the beginning with the tactical aspect of his game. Let’s first start from the time when he moved to Royale Union St Gilloise in the Second Division.

In the first few months, he struggled but he gained his confidence and got better as time went on. He was adapting to Europe, that happened to me as well.

After his successful spell in the Second Division, he got his move to Brugge. At Club Brugge I think he did OK, he didn’t shoot the lights out, but he did fine.

Here is a thing about Percy, he is very humble guy and better suited to teams when he is dominating like Mamelodi Sundowns. At Brugge there are lots of players with big egos, it was not all about Percy Tau.

He was not the centre of the team; he was just part of the squad. On match days, his name was not the first one on the teamsheet and that made it difficult for him.

We as South Africans know that in the PSL, when you are out injured, and you are an important player – when you come back you go straight into the starting eleven. At Brugge that didn’t happen. Those were things that he was not used to and had to deal with. Then he went to Anderlecht.

Now you must remember that Anderlecht are not the same team they were 10 years ago. They are now revamping and have a new structure. So, Percy came in and became an important and experienced player and he was dominating again.

Ten years ago, Anderlecht was the powerhouse of Belgium and now they are living in the shadows of Brugge. A new owner came in two years ago, Vincent Kompany is the coach, a new CEO just started – they are going through transitional phase. So, Percy became their important player and that was good for him because he did well.

South African players in general struggle where they don’t feel important. When I was young, I could shoot with both feet – I thought was really good.

When I went to Europe that was not special because all the players could do that – to shoot accurate with both feet is a normal thing in Europe.

Percy at Anderlecht was very influential and became a standout player. At Brugge he was not. Sometimes he was too nice, unlike West Africans who didn’t care and just wanted to stand out and score goals. That’s the arrogance you need if you want to be the best.

But I must take my hat off for Percy because for him to come to Europe at such a late stage in his career and to do this well is great. We are sending our players too late in Europe.

It’s always difficult coming to Europe, it’s not easy because it’s a different culture, you think that you were good in South Africa and now find players who are better than you.

Look at Khama Billiat, he should have gone to Europe a long time ago and now he won’t make it. Shabba [Siphiwe Tshabalala] went and then came back. Lebogang Manyama, who was our Player of the Year in South Africa, he came back.

The hunger is also sometimes not there from our South African players. If you ask me now which South African player can play in Europe, I will struggle to count them in one hand. Our players are also overpriced.

There was one article where [Cape Town City owner] John Comitis was quoted saying Craig Martin is worth R45 million. I mean honestly, how is that possible? R45 million? Do you know what I can get in Europe for that?

But going back to Percy, now that he has moved to England, we need to be patient with him. His first match was an FA Cup tie against a lower league, it’s like playing against ABC Motsepe League. In the English Premiership he is going to be stronger and smarter because you can’t do shibobos. If you do, they will kick your ankles.

There are lots of expectations, especially from the South African public, but we need to be very patient with Percy. We cannot think he will fly and become the next David Silva.

And please, the South African media must stop with things like: ‘Pep Guardiola must watch out for Percy’. They must stop with that nonsense.

But what I like about Percy is that he as a good mentality, tactically he is now smarter.

For the last few seasons, he has always been moving to a new club and hopefully now he can settle down at Brighton. Since he left Sundowns there has always been speculation about him moving, hopefully now it’s time settle down.