Kaizer Chiefs have been lauded for their approach in the transfer of highly-rated teenager Steven Mendes to Swedish side Hammarby Fotboll.
Mendes, 16, was able to make the move to Europe and place in the club’s academy system due to having as a dual national.
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The teenage midfielder was making impressive inroads in the Amakhosi system in recent months but impressed during his trial before landing a contract, and his representative Matthew Moore of Centre Circle was left impressed by how smoothly the deal went through.
“He has a Portuguese passport, so he was able to move before he turned 18. Our agency has always championed players getting to Europe as soon as possible, if you look what my dad did back in the day with Steven [Pienaar], Benni [McCarthy], and how he helped Borussia Dortmund to sign Christian [Pulisic] – in all cases they came at a young age which gave them maximum time to adapt and then to develop at the highest level possible,” he said.
“But with the more cumbersome world permit regulations in Europe and FIFA’s transfer regulations being prejudicial against non-Europeans, it’s become extremely difficult for South Africans as not many have dual passports.
“Hammarby has experience with young players from abroad and has a very good set-up [in the academy] and we are based in London, which is close by, so we will be with him on a regular basis.
“All credit to Chiefs as well, for them making this deal happen, I’m very appreciative that Kaizer Jr and the rest of the technical team were reasonable with their transfer demands, they saw the opportunity for a young boy to go over and develop. It’s a testament to their academy which in my opinion is one of, if not the best, in the country.
“The struggle we have faced recently in South Africa, with younger players, is that clubs tend to look short-term and subsequently price them out of these European moves.
“Unfortunately we are not in the same place that we were a few years ago where South Africa was respected as a football powerhouse on the African continent, our players were desirable and there wasn’t as much competition of players coming from abroad into Europe.”
Moore went on to explain how the early moves of the legendary Bafana Bafana stars of the past to Europe helped them reach the kind of heights not seen in the current generation of talented South African footballers.
And with the market evolving over the past decade, allowing promising talent at nominal fees with the potential resale percentages on offer, could be seen as a risk, but it also offers potentially higher rewards than the local market can generate for clubs.
“Steven, Benni, [Aaron] Mokoena, [Delron] Buckley, when they all went over… the competition wasn’t as great from other nations. Just to give an example our agency alone has moved six Japanese, four Australians, and 10 Americans into Europe,” he explained.
“In all of those cases, the selling clubs were not a barrier to the deal getting over the line because of the way they structured the deal – they accepted less upfront but more in the back-end in the event of the player being successful.
“They all moved from countries ranked much higher in the FIFA standings than South Africa which means that those countries – at national team level – would be benefitting from the development of their players at a better level than what they would be able to provide locally.
“What they get as compensation is not the maximum they could have achieved today but they take future payments based on playing 1st team games and they keep sell-on percentages to reap the benefits tomorrow.
“It would be beneficial for South African clubs, to start thinking this way, especially when we’re trying to get our young footballers back on the map again. Chiefs were great, but the hope is that other clubs adopt this outlook as well.
“The benefit that Centre Circle’s scouting staff in South Africa – Mark Haskins and Ricardo Katza – have is that they are former professional players. They have a great eye and have signed up some good young players. I hope more can move to European clubs in the future and can fly our flag abroad.”
