Delron Buckley says inconsistency is the reason more local players don’t make it overseas.
The 47-year-old former Bafana striker enjoyed a long career in Europe with Bochum, Arminia Bielefeld, Borussia Dortmund, Mainz, Anorthosis Famagusta and Karlsruher before ending his playing days with Maritzburg United.
There is a dearth of South African players plying their trade in top foreign leagues, and Buckley admits that there is still a big gap between the Betway Premiership and even the lower leagues in Europe.
He told iDiski Times: “To be honest with you, that’s the problem with the PSL, it’s really different to the English Premier League and the Bundesliga.
“You got to be consistent, and you hardly find players who are always consistent every single game. Of course, they’ll have a good game, two games and then three off games, they’re not on form, and another two games on form. They’re not consistent every single game, putting on a performance.”
Buckley, who scored 10 goals in 72 games for Bafana, added: “To be honest with you, because you can see for yourself when players leave, they can be good here, the minute they leave and go overseas, it’s a different pair of shoes.
“Even the ones that play national team, they don’t even play in the first teams where they are. They play in the second division or third division.”