South Africa's all-time top scorer Benni McCarthy has slammed Percy Tau’s permanent move from the Brighton & Hove Albion to Egyptian Premier League giants Al Ahly.
The former Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United striker said the 27-year-old's exit from the Premier League shows his lack of willpower to fight for a place in the Seagulls set-up.
Tau decided to sign a four-year deal with the reigning Caf Champions League winners on Friday after playing just three Premier League matches since he left Mamelodi Sundowns in 2018.
McCarthy feels Tau’s transfer sends a bad signal about South African players in Europe.
“I am also a bit taken aback by his decision of going to Al Ahly but he’s not gone to just any team,” McCarthy told South African Football Journalists’ Association. “He’s gone to a team where he’s always going to live the limelight, but on the African continent.
“And him making that decision, which I know is probably just people’s opinion and the way they think in a negative way, has just made it kind of clear that this is what South African players are like, that they don’t have strong willpower, they don’t have a strong mentality, that when the going gets tough, they would rather take themselves out of the equation.
“As good as Al Ahly is, they are still in Africa. They are not in the European continent, they don’t play against the best players in the world, they don’t play week in and week out against the Liverpool’s, Chelsea’s, Man United’s, the Tottenham Hotspur’s.”
The 43-year-old who is still the only South African to win the Uefa Champions League (Porto, 2003-04 season) added that Tau’s reunion with Pitso Mosimane is 'a massive step down' in his career.
“They play against Pyramids, Arab Contractors, Zamalek. As good as their league is, the fact remains they are in Africa, so for me, it’s a massive step down for him. But, hopefully, he gets to play and he gets to do well and he improves every bit,” he continued.
“The whole reason he went there was to win things, to get himself playing week in and week out and on that front, I understand his point, but personally, I think staying in the Premier League and fighting your guts out [was what he should have done] because you couldn’t have been in a better league and in a better position than he was.
“Now it has just eliminated himself, which makes it tougher for South African players to get the opportunity because that’s the mentality people will have of us.
“They will look at us and say, ‘Ah, this player doesn’t play, he’s not up for a fight so he’d rather take a step down and go to a lesser league on a different continent than to fight it out and ride the wave when the going gets tough.'”