Former Royale Union Saint Gilloise sporting director Alex Hayes feels Brighton & Hove striker Percy Tau is the proof that anyone can succeed in football with hard work and determination.
Tau developed his career in his native South Africa, progressing through the Mamelodi Sundowns youth set-up and earned a big move to Brighton in the summer of 2018.
However, complications in getting a work permit forced the Seagulls to send him away on a season-long loan to Belgian second-tier side Royale Union Saint Gilloise, where he won the Proximus League Player of the Season award last term.
Although the South African is now on loan at Club Brugge, Hayes, Union SG's former sporting director, still holds Tau in high esteem, lauding him for succeeding in football despite not being the fastest or the best.
Hayes, who feels Tau made it to the top mainly because of his hard work, believes the Brighton man is proof that anyone with grit and determination can be successful, pointing out he achieved it without having the physique of players like Didier Drogba and Michael Essien.
"This guy is actually proof that everyone can do it", Hayes told So Foot.
"He is not the fastest, not the greatest, not the best, but he has succeeded.
"Thanks to huge talent, of course, but also to his enormous hard work.
"How do you make it clear to a child who does not have the physique of a Drogba or an Essien that he can do it? It is complicated.
"Percy proves that a normal guy, the local guy, can get by."
Tau, a South Africa international, is now turning out in the Champions League with Club Brugge and has already played in the Bernabeu against Real Madrid, a 2-2 draw in which he provided an assist.
His contract at Brighton runs until 2022.
