South African football legend Sibusiso Zuma was disappointed to see Percy Tau join Belgian club Royale Union Saint Gilloise.
The highly-rated forward recently secured a move to English Premier League (EPL) side Brighton and Hove Albion from Premier Soccer League (PSL) champions Mamelodi Sundowns.
Brighton then loaned out the 2017/18 PSL Player of the Season award winner Tau to Saint Gilloise, who are campaigning in the First Division B which is the second tier of Belgian football.
Zuma, who plied his trade in Denmark and Germany during his football career, shared his thoughts on Tau's surprise move to Les Unionistes.
“Obviously for a player like him, leaving the English Premier League and going to the second division in Belgium, I’m a little bit disappointed," Zuma told IOL.
Tau inked a four-year deal with Brighton and he was loaned out to a European club in order for him to gain more experience.
“It really shows that our football is not doing well. We can’t have our top player in the second division in Belgium. This guy was picking up trophies and awards left, right and centre at home,” he continued.
Furthermore, the former Witbank Spurs winger was unable to get a work permit in England.
“Of course you have to understand that if you go to Brighton and they loan you out it means they see the potential in you. But you don’t do that to players like Tau. For players who are still trying to establish themselves, okay they can go to the second division in Belgium," Zuma explained.
“I believe Percy was almost there. I was thinking maybe he’d make the bench of Brighton. I’m not saying I expected him to be in a starting line-up and bang goals from the word go,” he added.
Steve Pienaar, Lucas Radebe, Mark Fish, Shaun Bartlett, Aaron Mokoena and Benni McCarthy are only but some South African players who have played in the Premier League.
“What happened to Percy just goes to show our level of football. Having said that I must mention that what they did in Percy does work. It is just that it happened to the wrong guy as we thought he was ready for the English Premiership," he said.
The former FC Copenhagen and Arminia Bielefeld winger went on to encourage more South African players to move to Europe.
“Playing in Europe makes you grow as a player. In Europe you must know what you are there for. The only thing that made me go to Europe was to improve and then use that to my advantage back home," he concluded.
