Johannesburg – A mixture of being homesick and a substantial increase in what players are earning at Premier Soccer League clubs is contributing to luring South Africa’s top European contingent back home, according to agent Glyn Binkin.
Tefu Mashamaite and Anele Ngcongca ditched their teams in Sweden and Belgium respectively to return to the PSL before the close of the winter transfer window on Wednesday last week.Mashamaite, a former Kaizer Chiefs captain and the 2015 Football of the Year, joined SuperSport United from BK Hacken, while Ngcongca, who has never played in the domestic Premier League before, signed for champions Mamelodi Sundowns.Binkin admitsconcedes it is often difficult for SA players to adjust to a different culture, language and way of life abroad and adds that times have changed as far as salary packages from when one of his more successful clients – Lucas Radebe – left Chiefs to join England’s Leeds United in 1994.When Bafana Bafana won the Africa Cup of Nations two years later, the majority of players in that squad were based overseas.Fast forward to now and you can count the Europe-based group on one hand.
“I also believe that, particularly with older players who transfer from SA to move abroad, such a move is often financially driven, but now clubs in the PSL are able to compete financially in monetary terms with many European leagues,” explains Binkin.
“Obviously not the top four or five leagues in world football or the top clubs in some of the secondary leagues, but certainly at the tier below that.
“The combination of going abroad to a new country and earning what one can now potentially earn in SA doesn’t make sense and they return home.”
Mashamaite and Ngcongca are only being added to a growling list.Prior to the start of the 2016/17 season, Bidvest Wits announced that goalkeeper Darren Keet had joined from KV Kortrijk, another Belgian side, after his contract had expired following five years there.Keet, still only 27, opted to return to Wits instead of looking for a new team in Europe.In previous seasons, Bernard Parker, Siboniso Gaxa and Siyanda Xulu have also done the same by joining Chiefs.Bongani Khumalo, another player managed by Binkin, also called it quits chasing his dream in England and several other European countries by signing for SuperSport in August last year, before moving to Wits six months later.
“I would like to think that most agents would try to discourage their player from returning home for the ‘wrong reasons’,” Binkin says.“But I suppose this depends on the player, his age, his circumstances and so on.
“This is why I am personally looking for young talent with a view to getting them abroad as soon as they turn 18 because at that age, they will benefit more from the exposure gained from playing in Europe.
“And, also at that age, they don’t really know the difference between, say one rand and one euro and it’s easier for them to leave SA without distracting financial offers from local clubs aimed at keeping them here.
“Liam Jordaan is an example. Wits created and afforded the player the opportunity to go abroad and forge a career for himself. They went out of their way to make sure the move (to Sporting Lisbon in Portugal) happened and should be applauded for doing that.”It is chalk and cheese comparing salaries earned by Lucas Radebe, Phil Masinga and Steve Komphela, now Chiefs coach, when they were pushing boundaries in Europe, to what current PSL players take home, says Binkin. That generation was a special breed.
“There was no real money in our league then and those guys realised that in order to make a good living, they had to make sacrifices and play abroad.
“Now players don’t have to do that to earn retirement-type income.
“I also believe the players were a lot hungrier in those days and would do anything to earn good money.
“The current generation are happy to sit on the bench or in the stands and earn good money,” he explains.
Binkin suggests that local clubs should set targets for players if they are to earn more, instead of just letting them have their cake and eat it.
“Indeed, most clubs now pay really well. But I believe our domestic game would improve even moreif, for example, rather than paying a player R1 million a year guaranteed gross income, they pay the player, for example, R600 000 per annum with the player having the ability to earn a further R600 000 if he achieves certain set targets, like starting in 75 percent of the club’s games in a season, scoring 15 goals and so on,” Binkin argues.
@superjourno
– The Sunday Independent