The money that has kept Thulani Serero quietly settled in the United Arab Emirates for the fifth consecutive season has been revealed.
Serero is now doing duty for UAE Pro League club Khorfakkan Club after agreeing to join the club in September.
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The 33-year-old has agreed to a deal that will keep him at Khorfakkan until the end of June 2024.
Prior to being at Khorfakkan, Serero spent four years at Al-Jazira arriving at the back of having spent eight years playing in Holland for Ajax Amsterdam and Vitesse.
In his four years at Al-Jazira, Serero has never started a match from the bench with all his 116 appearances coming as starts through winning the league and UAE Super Cup while getting to play in the FIFA Club World Cup and Asian Champions League.
Serero last played for Bafana Bafana in November 2019 while Molefi Ntseki was still in charge just months after joining Al-Jazira.
Authoritative contacts based in the UAE confirm that 'Cream' - as Serero is known - is now on a USD1 million (approx. R18,93 million) deal per annum.
This is tax free.
At Al-Jazira, Serero was on USD1,6 million (approx. R30 million) per annum which means he has taken a significant drop with his current deal at Khorfakkan, a club with a smaller profile.
The plus at Khorfakkan is that it is a club that offers incentives for winning bonus that start at USD2000 (approx. R37800) all the way to USD5000 (approx. R94000) depending on the nature of the game.
Serero has played four games at his new club with all his appearances starts though he has not been able to play 90 minutes in any of those games.
Now a defensive midfielder, Serero has trained with Khorfakkan in July but couldn't reach an agreement with the club over a deal.
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However, after several weeks of talks he ultimately agreed to a deal that brought down his earnings by 37,5%.
Though he is from Soweto, Serero has never played for any of the clubs that identify with the famous township as home.