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Cape Town - Absa Premiership champions Mamelodi Sundowns have officially confirmed that they have given the green light for the transfer of Percy Tau to English Premiership side Brighton & Hove Albion in a record-breaking deal.
"Mamelodi Sundowns is pleased to announce that the President of Mamelodi Sundowns Patrice Motsepe gave instructions to the management to finalise the deal with Brighton & Hove Albion FC (Brighton)", the club said in a statement on Monday.
This occurred after Tau and his agent met with club chairperson Patrice Motsepe and apologised for disclosing confidential information to the media and for Tau not reporting for training.
Sport24 reported that Masandawana received a final take-it-or-leave-it R50 million offer from The Seagulls that would easily break a South African transfer record.
Sundowns head coach Pitso Mosimane confirmed that negotiations were ongoing for the 24-year-old attacker who has lit up the Absa Premiership in recent years.
"Sundowns wants Percy to leave. Negotiations are ongoing - even today, and myself and management have all agreed that Percy must go," Mosimane told KickOff.
It is believed that Sundowns could earn up to R65 million from the deal with add-ons included that would easily shatter the previous record spent on a South African player.
Former Ajax Cape Town midfielder Thulani Serero moved to Ajax Amsterdam for a record R24.5 million with former Sundowns winger Keagan Dolly recently moving to French side Montpellier for a similar figure.
"Percy knows that we have agreed that he should go, because we'd love to see our player in the Premier League. I don't think anyone who is sober in their mind would think Sundowns doesn't want Percy to go," Mosimane added.
Tau picked up the 2017/18 Footballer of the season and Absa Premiership Player's Player of the Season awards, having finished as joint Premiership top scorer alongside Rodney Ramagalela with 11 goals.
