How is Percy Tau getting on at Union Saint Gilloise?
Percy Tau, remember him? Brighton and Hove Albion forked out £3m for the reigning South African Player of the Year in the summer despite knowing he had no chance of securing a work permit.
As a result, Tau was very quickly loaned out to Tony Bloom’s Belgian side, Union Saint Gilloise. According to some estimates, the fee the Albion paid for Tau puts him in the top 30 most valuable players in Belgium this season. Given that he’s playing in the second tier, he should be tearing it up, right?
Union certainly are tearing things up. They currently sit top of the table in a fiercely competitive division with five wins and one draw from their nine games so far.
Most impressively, they knocked giants Anderlecht out of the Belgian Cup with a 3-0 away success in a Brussels Derby. To put that in some perspective, it would be rather like Brentford going to Stamford Bridge and eliminating Chelsea from the FA Cup with a three goal hammering.
Tau impressed in that game at Anderlecht’s wonderfully named Constant Vanden Stock Stadium. He set up the opening goal for Youssouf Niakate, sprinting past a defender on the left before rolling the ball through to Niakate for the first goal of what would turn out to be his hat-trick.
Niakate has been in unstoppable form so far this season, scoring 14 goals in 10 games. As a result, Tau has found himself being used as a number 10 or even out wide as opposed to the central striker role he fulfilled for Mamelodi Sundowns and the South African national team.
That goes part of the way to explaining why Tau has only managed two goals in a weak league, which isn’t exactly encouraging when it comes to him being a Premier League standard player.
The first of those goals came against City Pirates, a semi-professional side who play in the Second Amateur Division who Union defeated 3-0 in the Belgian Cup to set up their tie with Anderlecht. His only league goal came in the last round of matches, a 90th minute strike in a 2-0 win over KVC Westerloo.
Tau is faring slightly better on the assists front, having teed up three league goals as well as Union’s opener against Anderlecht.
He notched one assist in a 2-0 victory against KSV Roeselare and then had his best game for Union when setting up two goals in their 3-1 win away at OH Leuven.
South African media have reported that Anderlecht were so impressed by him in that cup tie that they are considering signing him, either on loan from the Albion or on a permanent deal.
We’d take that with a pinch of salt given that it’s from the same South African media that were incredulous that he isn’t playing Premier League football already despite the fact he clearly isn’t good enough yet. Tau has been harshly criticised in some sections of the media for moving to Union.
Given that a season for Union won’t get Tau anywhere near the requirements for a British Work Permit, a potential move to a side playing in continental competition for the 2019-20 season could have Tau qualified ahead of the 2020-21 campaign.
Anderlecht could help in that regard, but on the evidence so far Tau has a long way to go before he will be on Chris Hughton’s radar as a potential Premier League star.
