‘He asked me not to call him’: Broos on Percy Tau’s absence from Bafana

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has explained the absence of Percy Tau from his squad and revelead that the Al Ahly attacker requested to be left out.

Tau has been under heavy criticism after experiencing a dip in form in recent matches for Bafana Bafana. The left-footed star was in the Bafana squad that won the bronze medal at the 2023 AFCON in Ivory Coast.

In the AFCON earlier this year, Tau was expected to play a big role in creating and scoring goals for Bafana. However, he could not live up to expectations.

The former Mamelodi Sundowns winger was also affected by injuries which saw him sidelined for the most part of the current campaign in Egypt. Meanwhile, Hugo Broos left out Percy in the previous squad that faced Uganda and South Sudan in the AFCON 2025 qualifiers.

Last month, the Belgian mentor revealed that he left Tau out of the squad to protect him from facing more criticism that could affect his mental health.

PERCY TAU IS ABSENT FROM BAFANA BAFANA SQUAD DUE TO ‘PERSONAL REASONS’

Broos who announced his 23-men squad on Wednesday said the 30-year-old requested to be left out due to ‘personal reasons’.

“I see things happening, and after AFCON, they [social media critics] killed him, and it was not fair; he was not really the deciding player, but he did his job,” Broos said.

“Therefore, I didn’t call him last and he told me it’s part of the game. Yes, it’s part of the game, but it’s in your mind. You can’t tell me it’s not in your mind.

“He came back against Zimbabwe and Nigeria, it [criticism] started again, and there were problems with Al Ahly; he didn’t play. There were talks that he might leave, but now I heard that they want him to stay.

“The fact that he’s not here with us, there’s personal reasons. He said coach please don’t call me, I’m not ready to come because of personal issues.

“So maybe he needs to look for another team where he’ll play and be happy, where there’s less problems so that we can have the old well-known Percy Tau from a few years ago.

“The qualities of Percy can help us a lot, but we have to be honest when we evaluate his performances for the national team, there’s no one who compares with his qualities as a player, and he can do more for the national team.”

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