Percy Tau is a Belgian champion – but what about his Brighton future?

In the name of the Lion of Judah, amen! Brighton & Hove Albion striker Percy Tau has been crowned a Belgian Jupiler League champion after clubs voted to bring an early end to the season, confirming Club Brugge as 2019-20 title winners.

Brugge were miles clear of their nearest rivals having opened up a 15 point lead ahead of KAA Gent. With the Belgian government having taken decisive action in banning all sports events until July 31st, there was no prospect of the Jupiler League being able to restart within the next three months. As a result, Brugge have been declared champions with bottom club Waasland-Beveren relegated.

The Belgian Cup final will still go ahead providing it can be played before August 3rd, giving Brugge the chance to complete a double. They had been set to take on Royal Antwerp on March 22nd before the season was halted.

Tau isn’t likely to feature for Brugge should they get the opportunity to take on Antwerp in the final. His loan deal in Belgium expires at the end of the June.

And even if a way was found for him to be registered for Brugge for the final, it isn’t guaranteed Tau would play. The Lion of Judah fell down the pecking order at the Jan Breydel Stadium in the last few months of the season, starting just two of Brugge’s final 10 league games of the campaign.

His overall contribution in a Brugge shirt was four goals and eight assists in 30 games across all competitions. That represents a decent return for a player who never really had a settled spot in the starting XI, being shunted from left wing to right wing to centre forward.

Tau even played as a number 10 when Brugge held Manchester United to a 1-1 draw in Belgium in the first leg of their Europa League last-32 tie in February.

Before his year with Brugge, the Lion of Judah spent the 2018-19 season in the Belgian second tier with Tony Bloom’s other club, Union Saint Gilloise.

Tau tore through the division to be named the Proximus League Player of the Year. He played 34 times for Union, scoring 11 and assisting 12 which was enough to attract the interest of Brugge last summer.

The big question for Brighton is does any of this help Percy Tau secure a British Work Permit? The Albion paid £2.5m to South African side Mamelodi Sundowns in the summer of 2018 for the services of the Lion of Judah, who has been unable to secure the legal right to work in Britain since.

There had been some hope that a re-writing of the work permit rules for footballers might follow in a post-Brexit United Kingdom with a new-look immigration policy.

The Football Association had mooted that if Premier League clubs agreed to increase the quota of home grown players in top flight squads, they would relax the qualification rules on signings from outside the EU.

By purchasing Tau, Brighton seemed to be taking the gamble that these changes would be made in the near future. What they couldn’t have accounted for is the slow speed at which the Brexit process seems to be trundling along, or a global pandemic then pushing everything else to one side.

There seems little hope of new work permit rules for footballers from outside the EU being introduced anytime soon – so if Percy Tau is going to play for Brighton, he will need to qualify through one of the existing paths.

The first of those paths involved a player from outside the European Union having played 75% of matches for a national side in the top 50 of FIFA’s World Rankings.

South Africa are currently 71st. They haven’t cracked the top 50 once since Percy Tau signed for Brighton two years ago, ruling international football out as a route for Tau to claim a work permit.

Tau therefore has to earn points for his feats on the domestic field to qualify. Points are available for players who played in at least 30% of available minutes for a club in one of Europe’s top seven leagues. There are further points to be had from playing 30% of available minutes in the Champions League or Europa League.

Both these points are available on a sliding scale; the more minutes you play above the 30% mark where recognition starts, the more points you get.

No matter how impressive Tau’s feats in the 2018-19 season with Union, his efforts there all counted for nothing in terms of work permit points.

The Belgian second tier is not one of Europe’s top seven divisions, nor were Union taking part in any continental competition.

Which is why Tau’s move to Brugge last summer was so important. The amount of game time Percy Tau received playing for Brugge both in the Jupiler League and Europe would directly impact on his chances of getting clearance to play for Brighton in the 2020-21 campaign.

Tau played in 898 of Brugge’s 2,610 Jupiler League minutes in the 2019-20 season, a percentage of 34.40%. In the Champions League, the Lion of Judah featured for 239 of Brugge’s 540 minutes (44.25%) and in the Europa League, he was used for 123 minutes of their two games against United, which equates to 68.33%.

For Tau to qualify for a British Work Permit, he really needs those percentages to be pushing 70%. His league minutes are particularly troubling, playing in just over a third of Brugge’s available minutes.

There are no extenuating circumstances such as injury to explain his absence from 66% of the season either; he hasn’t been injured once nor has he been suspended for any of the games that count towards Work Permit qualification.

It therefore seems unlikely that Percy Tau has done enough with Brugge this season to be granted the right to play for Brighton in 2020-21, whenever that may be.

The only way that he might qualify is if the Albion can blag special dispensation for Tau as a player of exceptional talent and potential.

That’s how the club managed to secure a surprise work permit for Alexis Mac Allister in January. Mac Allister’s case was no doubt helped by the fact that he had become a full Argentinian international and was playing for Boca Juniors, one of the biggest clubs in the world.

Anyone who has watched Tau can see that he does have potential. That was most clearly underlined last summer at the African Cup of Nations as South Africa embarked on an unlikely run to the quarter finals, knocking out hosts Egypt in the second round.

Tau was the best player on the pitch against the Pharoahs, receiving rave reviews from across the world for his performance against opponents who included Mo Salah among their number.

But playing for a poor South Africa side isn’t really comparable to being in the same Argentina squad as Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero.

Winning the Belgian top flight is not the same as turning out for Boca in front of 49,000 rabid fans packed into La Bombonera to watch the 66 times champions of Argentina. Mac Allister had everything going for him in terms of a strong case for special dispensation. Tau doesn’t.

Given that Tau has failed in his two previous attempts to gain a British Work Permit, it seems unlikely that a third crack at special dispensation will succeed, even if he is now a Jupiler League champion.

What Brighton do next with Percy Tau remains unclear. They may decide to cut their losses and sell the Lion of Judah, who will have his suitors on the continent. That is something that Andy Naylor has suggested the club are considering.

Or they could send him out on loan again, hoping that he receives more game time in the 2020-21 campaign to build up further points ahead of another crack at a work permit for 2021-22.

Should he spend another three seasons playing in Belgium to take his total residency in the country to five years, then Tau could even qualify for a Belgian passport which might allow him to play for Brighton, depending on how those post-Brexit rules look.

Whatever option they choose, it seems unlikely that we will be seeing the Lion of Judah in a Brighton shirt anytime soon. In the name of Percy Tau, amen.