Tau good enough to play in the EPL – Arsenal legend

Arsenal legend Ian Wright says football people in South Africa need to take control of the game in order for players to move straight from SA to the English Premier League.


Addressing the Bloemfontein Celtic’s MultiChoice Diski side in London, Wright believes Percy Tau is good enough to play in the EPL with Brighton & Hove Albion, but cannot do so because of the ‘logistics and red tape’.

Tau made a R50 million move from Mamelodi Sundowns to Brighton last year, but was loaned out to Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium in order to get a work permit in the UK.

“Look at Percy, I’ve seen him. You can’t tell me Percy cannot play at Brighton. He’s good, brilliant…a good footballer, man! You have to judge people on their abilities,” Wright was quoted as saying by Sport24.

“It’s going to be difficult for South African players to play in England because of the work permit situation and getting SA to a level where a player can come straight to England and get the work permit. That’s why you need football people making these decisions. It’s not decisions for government people, civil servant people…football people have to take control of this situation. The problem is that [in the UK] they don’t take you on talent. They take you on logistics and red tape … you have to play a certain amount of games internationally.”

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