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Tau has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the past two campaigns, and is a strong contender for the PSL Footballer of the Season award, having scored 13 goals and provided 12 assists in all competitions for the newly-crowned Absa Premiership champions this term.

Tau, who turns 24 on May 14, has courted praise from a number of his peers and commentators, including Senegalese legend El Hadji Diouf, who believes the attacker has more talent than Liverpool superstars Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane and should be plying his trade in Europe.

Fellow South Africa international Phakamani Mahlambi made it onto World Soccer’s annual list two years ago when on the books of Bidvest Wits, as he now continues his progress at Egyptian giants Al-Ahly.

World Soccer explained the criteria for their selection as follows:

‘Another year, another World Soccer 500. As with previous years, it is not intended to be a list of the “best” 500 players in the world.

‘How We Compiled the List

‘It’s impossible to compare players from different leagues and continents; any list is inevitably subjective. We have endeavoured to compile
a list of the world’s most talked-about players – the most newsworthy who, by definition, are the most important.

‘As with previous years, we began by drawing up a list of the key players by league – starting with 60 each for the leading leagues in Europe (England, Germany, Spain), 50 for France and Italy, between 15 and 25 for middle-ranking leagues, and ending with between five and 10 for smaller leagues.

‘We tried to include players who fell into five different categories:

‘1 In-form players who have starred in their respective domestic league during the current 2017-18 season.

‘2 The young talents who have earned rave reviews in the past year.

‘3 The internationals who will be key figures for their respective national sides at the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.

‘4 Players who are likely to be key figures in the summer transfer market.

‘5 Those who have made the headlines off the pitch.

‘Reaching the final list was not easy. There are many players who missed the final cut but who came very close.

‘A new element this year is the inclusion of players who could make an impact at this summer’s World Cup. So there are more players from likes of Morocco, Senegal and Serbia, and one from Panama, as well as fewer players from countries such as USA and Holland, who missed out on the finals.

‘This is not intended to be the definitive list – merely one to provoke debate and discussion.’