Mamelodi Sundowns are hovering just under a record transfer fee paid for a South African, in their asking price for midfielder Teboho Mokoena.
Mokoena has arguably been one of the best players in the PSL for the past two seasons, after being crowned Footballer of the Season in the 2022/23 campaign, among his major accolades.
The 27-year-old followed that up with outstanding performances for Bafana Bafana in the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations, as one of the standout players as Hugo Broos' charges won the bronze medal after finishing third.
There were expectations that the former SuperSport United midfielder would naturally move to Europe in the previous transfer window, after being linked with English Premier League club Bournemouth and French giants Monaco.
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However, the Bethlehem native signed a new five-year deal instead at Sundowns and his agent Lance Davids has revealed that the reason he could not move to Europe is that the Brazilians put a €5 million (R96 million) price tag on his services.
"People ask me, Bafana came third in the [AFCON] tournament, why are the players not coming to Europe. The [asking] prices are crazy [from SA clubs]. Tebogo, his value, going for €5 million (R96 million)? It's crazy. Do you know what kind of players they [European clubs] can get for €5 million from South America?" Davids asked on Metro FM Sports.
"PSL is one of the best leagues in Africa but if you go to West Africa or North Africa, you can get someone, that is, I won't say the same quality but you get some players [there] cheaper.
"And it's still these boys' dreams [of playing in Europe], we want to do the best we can, he still wants to go to Europe. We're not fighting, at the end, we have to look at the player's future. It's always not nice fighting with clubs. We can still make it to Europe, why not? They have the Club World Cup, AFCON coming up and there's a Middle East opening up for Africans also," Davids added.
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To put into perspective, Lyle Foster only broke Benni McCarthy's transfer fee record paid for a South African in January 2023, after he was signed by Burnley from Belgian club KV Westerlo for €7 million (R131 million at that time).
McCarthy had previously held the record of a transfer fee paid for a South African after moving from Ajax Amsterdam to Celta Vigo for €6 million in 1999.
