What now for Percy Tau amidst Covid-19 confusion?

South Africa international Percy Tau finds himself in an uncertain place following the cancellation of the Belgian league.   

At the start of April, the Pro League's board decided to end the season, citing health concerns and financial woes in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed thousands of lives across the globe.

As a result, the board recommended that Tau's Club Brugge be crowned champions due to their 15-point lead at the top of the standings at the time the season was suspended and eventually cancelled. 

The said recommendation was on Thursday ratified by the league itself following a meeting with the 24-member clubs on the final decision. 

This means Tau can now receive his winner's medal, his second in as many years since leaving Mamelodi Sundowns for Europe but where does this leave Tau and his future, especially with the Premier League yet to decide on what to do next? 

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What will the Premier League do?

Should the Premier League decide to complete the season, there is a possibility that the current campaign would be extended by a few weeks in England - and that could put Tau's future in jeopardy as he will have to wait longer to know his fate. 

With the season done and dusted in Belgium, Tau will not kick a ball for the next few weeks as he awaits the conclusion of the Premier League. 

However, that should the least of Tau's worries, because with the Belgian league ending and the Premier League yet to come to a conclusion, his loan deal at Club Brugge has effectively ended and he is now Brighton & Hove Albion property.

Yet he couldn't be registered for the 2019-20 Premier League season, so he's unable to play, and Brighton would surely need more time to make a decision on the player, who's spent the last two seasons in Belgium after failing to meet the requirements for a UK work permit. 

One of the requirements is that he must have played 75 percent of South Africa's international matches over a period of two years - something he has achieved with flying colours after being given the platform by both Stuart Baxter and Molefi Ntseki. 

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Percy Tau's work permit

Another factor which could prove enough for Tau to finally make his long-awaited Premier League debut is "the player's experience and value" - and Brighton can argue that the attacker has met this requirement now that Club Brugge have finally be crowned Pro League champions.

This means two winners' medals in as many seasons for Tau on top of the Proximus Player of the Season award he won with Union Saint-Gilloise. 

Tau also contributed immensely in terms of goals and assists during his two-year stay in Belgium. He scored 11 goals and registered 13 assists in 34 matches for Saint-Gilloise last season. 

This term, the 25-year-old played 30 games, scored four goals and grabbed eight assists - meaning he has directly been involved in 36 goals in 64 games since leaving Mamelodi Sundowns for Europe in 2018.       

Goal

Part of the condition for teams wishing to register players whose national teams are ranked outside the top 60 in the world states that "prior to the application [for the work permit], the player’s club must have featured in the group stages of the Champions League and Europa League in the past 12 months.

"The player must have featured in 30% of the available minutes."

Again, Tau meets this requirement, having featured for Club Brugge both the European competitions this season, including against high-profile European giants such as Real Madrid, Manchester United and Galatasary. 

As a last resort, Brighton may decide to send him out on loan for a third successive season - more so because he's not short of options even if he's not granted the work permit in the UK ahead of next season.

Just less than a year ago before moving to Club Brugge, Tau was heavily linked with Bongani Zungu's Amiens SC, and this may be another option for him, although the French outfit have now been relegated to Ligue 2 following the cancellation of the season in France.