Bafana Bafana star Percy Tau has broken his silence, speaking out about the alleged ill-treatment towards him by Leandro Trossard during their shared time at Brighton & Hove Albion in the English Premier League.
Despite being on the books of the Premier League side from 2018 to 2021, Tau spent most of that period out on loan, only featuring for the team during the second round of the 2020/21 season.
He only made six appearances across all competitions, registering one assist, struggling for playing time under the leadership of Graham Potter.
Tau and Trossard, competing for a starting berth, both sought to impress to get into the Seagulls starting line-up. The Belgian winger reportedly gave off “bad vibes” towards the former Mamelodi Sundowns star.
The SA attacker disclosed that he had knowledge of Trossard’s alleged behaviour even before the Belgian international’s departure from Brighton. However, he chose to disregard these rumours, prioritising his efforts to impress the coach instead.
TAU OPENS UP ON COMPETITION WITH TROSSARD AT BRIGHTON
“I’ve always heard people, even when I was at Brighton, mentioning this, but I didn’t pay too much attention to it because I wanted to play,” said Tau during the interview with Robert Marawa on Marawa Sports Worldwide.
“That was the whole thing about me, my focus was all about trying to impress the coach and trying to play, and I saw the respect I got from players. Some of them would ask me, ‘Why you’re not playing?’.
“Even when I left for Al Ahly, I spoke to Adam Lallana, and he was shocked. He asked, ‘Why are you doing that?’ It was not a decision, but I spent time on it.
“So, I didn’t pay much attention to the [Trossard] issue. All I wanted was to play. We played together against Manchester City when he came on.
“We were in a similar position, of course there would be competition. But I would have loved to be given more chances to prove myself because it’s not like I felt I didn’t belong there or there was a gap between myself and them.”
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