Links eager to work with Benni at City

City announced yesterday that they had signed the 19-year-old attacking midfielder from Egypt’s Pyramids FC on a five-year deal for a club record fee.

“It is part of his development, it is a long-term deal, but obviously …. We all know the idea is to develop him further and then one day to move him to bigger heights in Europe,” said Links’ agent Paul Mitchell.

Links (above) was in no rush to leave Egypt, but his hand was forced after Saudi billionaire Turki al Al-Sheikh bought existing Egyptian Premier League side Al Assiouty, renamed it Pyramids FC, and put the squad up for sale.

According to Mitchell, this also expedited Links’ sale to Cape Town City, rather than Europe.

“There was interest in Europe, but there were time factors, we needed to get Gift in somewhere. Benni McCarthy and John Comitis (City’s owner) really wanted him, and put down an offer. It was a sizeable offer,” said Mitchell.

Links moved to Al Assiouty from Platinum Stars in January, and was also part of Stuart Baxter’s Bafana Bafana side at the 2018 Cosafa Cup. He played for Bafana in both the Plate semifinal, a 4-1 win over Namibia, and Plate final, which they won by beating Botswana 2-0.