Peter Shalulile has been told 'point-blank' that he needs to leave Mamelodi Sundowns to make better money through his best years.
The Namibian has now become the first-ever player to reach 100 goals in less than 200 appearances while playing for a South African top-flight club.
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The 29-year-old struck a brace on Saturday as Sundowns hammered Algerian champions CR Belouizdad 4-1 at the Stade de Nelson Mandela in Baraki.
Shalulile is now just the seventh player to reach 100 goals playing for a South African side in the DStv Premiership era and joins Bradley Grobler, Collins Mbesuma, Manuel 'Tico-Tico' Bucuane, Mabhuti Khenyeza, Daniel Mudau, and Siyabonga Nomvete in that distinguished category.
The former Highlands Park striker has reached the 100 goals landmark in 195 appearances and now needs 24 goals to overtake Nomvete and become the best striker to ever play for a South African top league club.
"Reaching 100 goals shows that it is not easy to score goals which is why you don't get so many guys reaching that 100-goal mark," Tico-Tico tells KickOff.
Tico-Tico had 104 goals playing top-flight football in South Africa in the period from August 1996.
"In more recent times it has become even more difficult to score goals based on the figures that are winning the top scorer award.
"The numbers are dropping at the highest level, so it shows how much of a difficult job it is to score.
"For Shalulile to have reached 100 goals it shows that he is a special player in a dominant side.
"I mean regardless of that he is playing in a dominant team, he still needs to be putting them away.
"Merit to him because he is always in the right place to finish them.
"He is definitely a special player.
"All these years I was the foreigner with the most goals in South Africa and I last played in the PSL almost 15 years ago.
"Without having to take merit from Shalulile, I always say it is always easier to score goals in a dominant side.
"I competed with Daniel Mambush Mudau who played for a dominant Sundowns team that won titles while I was at Cosmos that would be struggling at times.
"It made me proud to score so many goals coming from Cosmos.
"But then I don't want to make Shalulile's achievement any lesser because the fact is that even though he is in a dominant team he still has to score the goals.
"He is definitely a special player who is flying so he deserves it.
"I don't have a problem with my record being broken by a player who is so deserving.
"Scoring goals is the most difficult thing to do on a soccer field and that explains why strikers are so costly.
"If you don't score then you don't win so that is why you need those special players who will finish the job that the team is doing.
"I know he is earning good money at Sundowns but he could make a lot more by going abroad.
"He has everything at this level and now take the step to the next level otherwise he will regret it for the rest of his life.
"If you are this sharp and you are confident then you must take the step up.
"If it means he must fight Sundowns to make that move then so be it because he will earn more money moving abroad.
"I overstayed my time at Cosmos, and I regret.
"I wasn't meant to stay at Cosmos for eight years, but I was way too soft.
"Sometimes you must be a bad boy and fight for yourself because this is our work, and we will not do it forever.
"I think this guy has it in him to play overseas and make better money.
"I believe that someone is going to be coming for him because he is also a proven scorer on the international stage.
"Someone will come with a cheque that Sundowns won't turn down.
"Shalulile deserves to earn dollars, euros, or pounds just like all these guys that I see playing in Europe some of whom are not even better than him.
"If I was close to him, I would advise him to try his luck abroad like Percy Tau who is earning good money.
"If it doesn't work abroad, he can always come back to Sundowns, otherwise he is going to regret it.
"I'm not talking about what I was told but rather what I went through as a player personally," says Tico-Tico.
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