PSL ripe for a cap on pay

Is it time for a salary cap in South African football? Maybe, if it's true that Elias Pelembe's new contract with Mamelodi Sundowns is worth R480000 a month.

Not that the wily Mozambican conjurer does not deserve such a delectable deal. He is a fine footballer who would command more in many other leagues.

But the future health of our football is not best served by the rocketing incomes of the PSL's stars, because it keeps them farting around at home, and thus deepens the isolation of our league from the nerve centre of the game.

South Africa simply does not export enough of our best players, least of all when they are young enough to build long careers abroad. Take the case of Siphiwe Tshabalala, who is 27 and hoping to join Crystal Palace on a free transfer at the end of this season.

If so, Shabba will have only a season or two in which to shine in the Championship and catch an elevator into the financial wonderland of the English top flight - where the average salary is now about R2-million a month, four times the size of Pelembe's deal.

Premier League coaches don't like to blow their budgets on 28-year-olds without a big-league track record. Arsene Wenger even tries to offload players who reach that ripe old age.

Shabba should have been shipped off to Europe in a comfy cardboard box immediately after the World Cup, when he was 25, in the afterglow of that rip-snorter against Mexico.

Back then, a big-league transfer was do-able. But there was no urgency to strike a deal, partially because his Chiefs contract was lavish enough to keep him happy and patient. Katlego Mphela has loitered around at Sundowns for the same reason.

Contrast their stagnating careers with the irresistible rise of May Mahlangu, who left South Africa as a teenager. He's now the best player in Sweden, at 23, and poised for a move to Villarreal this month.

It is to be applauded that the average PSL salary has risen strongly since the advent of the Supersport broadcasting deal. The next step should be a minimum PSL wage of perhaps R25 000 a month, in the light of the league's wealth.

But megadeals such as Pelembe's serve only to sap the ambition of our hottest prospects. Tebogo Langerman and Eric Mathoho should be targeting the stepping stones of Scandinavia or Belgium; instead they are likely to choose the instant gratification of joining Sundowns and Chiefs. They might well be shutting the door on the chance of global fame and crazy money.

There are no guarantees, of course. Several PSL exports have drifted or failed abroad; either because they moved too late or were never good enough. As a result, the reputation of South African players is a tad crap. To improve our brand, we have to ship more youngsters of the calibre of Mahlangu and Thulani Serero.

At present, the local game is drifting in self-absorbed obscurity, with development ironically suffocated by the league's healthy income. This was the syndrome that held Mexican football back for decades: senior players had little incentive to leave for Europe, which meant young players did not see action and senior players did not improve. Hence the national team was mediocre. Sound familiar?

South Africa's best course may be to emulate the MLS model: allow one or two big-name imports per club to earn huge salaries (NB the words "big-name" do not apply to Luis Boa Morte), and cap everyone else's pay at a healthy but modest level. Clubs could be contractually required to invest all the resultant savings in their development academies.

If that sounds far-fetched, well, it is. But not as far-fetched as a future South African football renaissance without radical change.