South African footballer Fagrie Lakay has long spoken about plying his trade outside of the country’s borders, but his move to top Egyptian Premier League side Pyramids FC is certainly a case of the road less traveled.
He is just the fourth South African to play in arguably Africa’s top league, following in the footsteps of trailblazer Phakamani Mahlambi, Gift Links and Percy Tau, who is currently with giants Al Ahly under coach Pitso Mosimane.
Lakay has seen a resurgence in his career over the last 12 months, one that had seemed to be stalled after a succession of failed moves. It is incredible to think he is only 24, but his debut as a professional for Cape Town club Santos at the age of 15 means he has been around almost a decade already.
He is the youngest player to feature in the top two tiers of South African football since accurate records were kept, and is also the youngest ever international for the country having made his Bafana Bafana bow against Ivory Coast in 2014 aged 17 years, six months and one day.
“We had a Dutch coach [Mart Nooij] at the time and my first professional game was a Cape Derby against FC Cape Town,” Lakay tells FORBES AFRICA of his Santos bow.
“I didn’t expect to play. I had come from school [for training] and was having lunch with the coach. And while we were sitting there, he just said, ‘I want to give you the opportunity to play this weekend’.
This story is from the April - May 2022 edition of Forbes Africa.
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This story is from the April - May 2022 edition of Forbes Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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