Percy Tau named Proximus League Player of the Season
Percy Tau baby! The Lion of Judah’s debut season in European football just keeps getting better and better after he was named as the Proximus League Player of the Season.
The award recognises the best individual in Belgium’s second tier. Tau saw off the competition of his Union Saint-Gilloise teammate Faïz Selemani and KV Mechelen’s wonderfully named winger Nikola Storm to win the accolade.
Tau has played 34 matches in all competitions for Union this season, scoring 11 times and assisting 13 goals. Although Tony Bloom’s other side failed to win promotion to the top flight Jupiler League, Union did reach the last four of the Belgian Cup with Tau reserving one of his best performances of the campaign for their shock 3-0 win over top flight Brussel’s rivals Anderlecht.
The Lion of Judah 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 of what would turn out to be a hat-trick for him.
To put the achievement of that result into some context, it would be like Brentford knocking Chelsea out of the FA Cup via a 3-0 victory at Stamford Bridge.
Tau’s goal scoring form for Union has caught the eye of several bigger clubs on the continent including Anderlecht themselves.
That’s potentially good news for the Albion as there seems little prospect of him qualifying for a work permit to play in the Premier League in 2019-20.
In order for Tau to do so, South Africa would need to climb 23 places in the FIFA World Rankings to crack the top 50 from their current position of 73rd.
A good African Cup of Nations this summer could see them make serious progression, but it still remains a long shot that the Amex will be reverberating to the sound of Percy Tau baby after he’s banged in a hat-trick against Manchester City on the opening day of next season come August.
The Proximus award makes it two years running now that Tau has been voted as the best player in the league in which he is plying his trade.
Last year, he was named the PSL Footballer of the Year for during his final campaign in South Africa with Mamelodi Sundowns before his £2.5m move to the Amex.
