If Orlando Pirates sell Mbekezeli Mbokazi for R51 million, where will he rank among the most expensive PSL exports ever?

Tau's excellence for Sundowns convinced English Premier League side Brighton to part with €3.2 million (R63.6 million in today's terms) to secure his services in 2018. 

The three-time Caf Champions League-winning winger has played his club football in South Africa, Belgium, Qatar, Egypt and now Vietnam with Nam Dinh. 

The Lion of Judah's star shone bright when he tasted a UEFA Champions League night at Real Madrid's iconic Bernabeu stadium in the colours of Club Brugge in 2019. The Belgian visitors grabbed a 2-2 draw, with Tau assisting the first of two goals from Nigerian Emmanuel Dennis. 

Tau is out of the picture for Bafana now and hasn't featured for the national team since March this year. Still, he can look back at a wonderful career across the globe. 

Cream usually rises to the top, as the saying goes, and 'Cream' is a fitting nickname for one of South Africa's finest midfield operators. 

Thulani Serero's footballing education started with the now-defunct Ajax Cape Town, where he won PSL Player of the Season in 2011/12, excelling as a number 10. Ajax Amsterdam came calling, and a €2.5 million (R50 million) move soon followed. 

Serero has spent the majority of his club career in Holland’s Eredivisie. He was with Ajax for six years from 2011-2017, where he made 121 appearances, including 11 in the UEFA Champions League and went on to spend six years in the UAE Pro League with Al-Jazira and Khor Fakkan. 

Interestingly, he also played alongside the current Arsenal captain, Martin Ødegaard, where Serero showcased his tactical intelligence as the deepest-lying midfielder for Vitesse Arnhem. 

This year, he spent a few months back in the Mother City with Cape Town City and is now without a club. The stylish schemer won 43 caps for Bafana Bafana. 

Mdulelo ‘Oldjohn’ Mabizela was a cultured, sublimely gifted central defender. 45 caps for Bafana isn’t an awful tally, but it could and should have been more. 

Tottenham Hotspur saw enough of him in a Pirates jersey to shell out €2.3 million (R46 million) to sign him in in July 2003. One of the most gifted players ever to come out of this beautiful country, and who can ever forget that screamer he scored on his Spurs debut against Leicester?

He only won a solitary piece of major silverware, the Norwegian title with Valerenga in 2005. And yet, we all remember his playing career so fondly because football fans know good players when they see them.

Sure, he flirted with some controversy down the years, but that’s not what discussions around Mabizela have to cover.

Maritzburg United, Pirates, Tottenham, Valerenga, Sundowns, Platinum Stars, Wits, Chippa, Mpumalanga Black Aces, AmaZulu and Royal Eagles were all temporary homes for the unforgettable Old John. 

The Nigerian marksman stood 1.9m tall and strutted his stuff for an early iteration of Mamelodi Sundowns as serial league winners in the '90s. 

It was a wonderful time for retro football kits, especially that one with Disprin on the front. 

After three seasons, three league titles and 64 goals in 124 appearances, the Brazilians sold the 'Chukwu Train' to Italian Serie B side, Bari, for €2 million (R40 million) in 1999. 

That's a lot of cash for a relatively small European second-tier team before the turn of the millennium. Unfortunately for both club and player, he couldn't deliver the goals required and his career eventually petered out at Turkish club Caykur Rizespor.

Cool, calm and always composed, Bongani Khumalo was a commanding central defender who exuded class on the pitch. Leadership came naturally to Khumalo, a four-time PSL winner. Three of those titles were with the now-defunct SuperSport United, and the other was with the defunct club, Bidvest Wits, in 2017. 

Tottenham Hotspur spent €1.8 million (R36 million) to sign him from SuperSport United in 2010. What a special year that was for South African and African football. 

Khumalo, still only 38, spends a lot of time these days on TV as a pundit for UEFA Champions League matches. This man knows his football, after spending five years playing the beautiful game in England with Spurs, Preston, Reading, Doncaster and Colchester.

Including a short stint in Greece, Khumalo made 296 appearances as a senior pro. Memorably, he scored the opener for Bafana in their 2-1 win over France at the 2010 World Cup in Bloemfontein. 

One of South Africa's most exciting prospects in quite some time, Mbekezeli Mbokazi, is rumoured to be in talks with the United States MLS team Chicago Fire. To describe this impressive young man's rise as meteoric feels like a gross understatement. 

Still only 20 years old, the gifted left-footer has already captained Orlando Pirates on several occasions, marshalling their back four with a surprising maturity and calmness. Physically gifted, 'TLB' has the temperament to right to the top for his country too. This is a guy who only made his senior Pirates debut in March this year, and who is now expected to be a mainstay at the 2025 AFCON and 2026 World Cup. 

As if his defensive instincts aren't enough, Mbokazi has also developed a critical knack for scoring big goals in big games. 

If a deal for a reported €3 million goes through, we could be talking about the second-most expensive transfer out of a PSL club in history. If Pirates play their cards right, he should actually take his place at the top of that tree.