'Brighton coach favoured Trossard' – Percy Tau

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Former Al Ahly striker Percy Tau has explained his decision to leave Brighton and Hove Albion.

The 31-year-old joined The Seagulls in 2018, but due to work permit complications, he was loaned out to Belgian side Union SG for a year.

Following that, he had successful loan spells at Club Brugge and Anderlecht before finally making his debut for Brighton in 2021. However, Tau only made six appearances for Brighton before leaving for Al Ahly later that same year.

Speaking to Robert Marawa on Radio 94.7, Tau expressed that he felt his former coach, Graham Potter, did not give him a fair chance.

Tau left Brighton due to lack of gametime

“We feel like it’s a league where you can go and test yourself,” he said. “And what it also requires is a lot of hard work because there’s not much training in the Premier League. The games are more intense, so there’s a lot of recovery, which is something that affected me when I was there.

“I’m a guy who prefers training because that’s where I prove myself, and then I find that we play on a Saturday, off Sunday, off Monday, then we train on a Tuesday and we’re off on a Wednesday, Thursday, then play.

Tau mentioned how it was difficult for him to feature as Brighton were fighting relegation at the time.

“It was frustrating and I spoke to the coach many times, telling him that I wanted to play. He will say to me, ‘but [Leandro] Trossard is doing well’ and I said, ‘yes, he is doing well because he is getting so many opportunities’

Tau said he asked the former Brighton coach to play him more to impress.

“The following season, I stayed; I did not go to the Olympics. I tried to impress the coach and I did well in the friendlies,” he said.

The former Mamelodi Sundowns player featured for Brighton in most of their friendly pre-season matches; however, he was benched when the season started. Potter’s decision to play Trossard ahead of Tau forced the ‘Lion of Judah’ to leave Brighton for Al Ahly.