Khama Billiat

Should the mis-firing striker be retained by Kaizer Chiefs at the end of the season?

Everything that has happened with Khama Billiat for most of the last three years at Kaizer Chiefs just shows how badly calculated his move to Naturena was. From a trophywinning team at Mamelodi Sundowns, the Zimbabwean international is now a struggling star on a huge salary, prone to injuries, thin on confidence and with his future hanging in doubt. KICK OFF’s Lovemore Moyo looks at what has happened and what the future holds.

Three years into his stay at Kaizer Chiefs, what does Khama Billiat have to show for it? The truth is: nothing. In what should fundamentally be the measure of success, which is winning trophies, the Zimbabwean international will be disappointed that he has failed to tick any of the silverware boxes.

The only thing positive about his stay in Naturena is that figures in his bank account have ballooned as he is reportedly the highest earner in domestic football. Fair and fine.

However, the question that is refusing to go away, hangs on what he has brought to the club and if he has done enough to warrant a continuation of his stay further than the three years already spent at the club.

Considering the reported telephone number figures that he is earning, has the investment in him by the Soweto giants been money down the drain?

Worth noting is his plethora of injuries since his second season at the club and being part of what has been generally an average squad with three coaching changes from Giovanni Solinas to Ernst Middendorp and Gavin Hunt. It has complicated matters and diluted his input.

In contrast, at Mamelodi Sundowns he only played under Pitso Mosimane in a squad that was never thin on quality.

Though Chiefs have failed as a team to win silverware in six years, what makes Billiat the focal point is that he is incredibly talented footballer with a background of having won multiple trophies at Sundowns, so his contribution should be better than what it has been.

“The timing of a move in a football career is vital and I feel Billiat has got it all wrong, because since he has been at Chiefs, he has done nothing and is a failure,” says Muisi Ajao, a former defender at Chiefs.

“He has not delivered, and he is not happy himself as well, but has to soldier on. These things happen in football.

“For him to leave Sundowns at the time when they were solid, winning trophies and him a talisman in the team, was unfortunate. He has now been with a team that was not, and is still not, winning trophies and that has been frustrating for him. It has shown in the way he plays.

“At Sundowns he was buzzing but he is not the same now because of the kind of players he has around him at Chiefs. He went to Chiefs hoping to deliver titles and it has not worked out, and I believe he is worried right now with some people already doubting him.

“Chiefs is no ordinary team and what has been happening to not only Billiat, but the team as a whole, is disturbing,” he points out.

‘He still deserves a chance’

Should Billiat stay on at Chiefs or should he pack his bags and leave? That is the question of many club supporters. But Ajao believes with the right recruitment of players, the 30-year-old can make up for lost time.

“To be honest, you cannot take anything away from Billiat because he is deadly,” argues the Nigerian.

“The most important thing to do now is for the team to sign players that can play with him. For me, he still deserves a chance and just needs to refresh and forget about the past. The problems at Chiefs are in a lot of places and not just with Khama, so I do not think it is fair to isolate him as the problem.

“Yes, we expect a lot from Khama, but Chiefs is going through a bad patch and that is where the fixing must start. When they bring in players next season, it must not because the player is cheap.

“Chiefs’ standards are high, and it must show in their signings. Chiefs must not buy players because they are trying their luck. Chiefs is not a place for chancers, but winners, so they need to go big in the off-season and keep Khama,” argues the Nigerian.

For all the troubles that Chiefs have had, Billiat’s numbers have also not been inspiring in a Chiefs jersey.

At his best at Sundowns, he scored 15 and had 17 assists in one season but in the three years that he has been at Chiefs he has 16 goals and 18 assists.

“The way forward for Billiat is for him to leave Chiefs because the players are not what would make him thrive,” reasons Chiefs’ former striker Fees Moloi.

“Billiat loves to play the ball and with the Chiefs of this past season, it has been about getting the ball wide and crossing, hence you find that he is not effective. At Chiefs they are playing a system which suits the material that they have currently.

“The Chiefs of now is not ta ball playing team. You will t think they fear the ball because thet moment it gets to a player, it is kicked forward. At times, th he way Chiefs play frustrates Billiat , and he ends making way too m uch of an effort.

“The problem is not Billia at, but rather the players suita ble to play with him. There is no o individual brilliance at Chie efs,” says Moloi, who feels the moneym that Billiat earns shouldn’t beb reason to be critical of him. .

“All over the world, what players earn differs. We can n never earn the same money y so that argument does not ho old water. What a player earns i is

“AT SUNDOWNS HE WAS BUZZING BUT HE IS NOT THE SAME NOW BECAUSE OF THE KIND OF PLAYERS HE HAS AROUND HIM.”

informed by negotiations. He has not worked well with the players that he found at Chiefs and the change of coaches has not helped.

“Chiefs started to rot under Stuart Baxter because he won with players over the age of 30 and the moment he won silverware he ran away. Chiefs must not be in a rush to win a trophy because micro-solutions do not work in sustaining football projects.

“They have to come up with a sustainable plan, but the trouble is that fans just want wins and trophies,” notes Moloi.

‘He hasn’t stepped up’

That Billiat had the talent to take him abroad is beyond any doubt but then at Chiefs the wind has not sailed in his direction.

“Since he moved from Sundowns to Chiefs, I haven’t seen anything from him,”” hi says R Rober b rt Nauseb. “I don’t ve anything against the player. hasn’t step pped up and wed that Khama K Billiat came nd change ed the dimensions e way we ex xpected he would. He gets at ttention because all know w he can do better is on go ood money. Why e foreve r getting injured? n you a are earning what s on and d then don’t get to y as ma any games, what

does that say? It is obvious that he hasn’t delivered.”

Former Chiefs wingback Nauseb also feels that after winning all trophies, Billiat should have left the PSL instead of seeking to be a messiah at Chiefs.

“Khama won everything at Sundowns so what was there for him to win in South Africa afterwards? Maybe that is the reason why he is not doing as well as he should have been. Now he has had to deal with the pressure of being a top earner in an underperforming club.

“Now the pressure has taken its toll on t the player at a club with its own troubles. It would not have taken just Khama Billiat t to fix the problems at Chiefs.

“Since he is earning big, but hasn’t delivered, how are the club and player going to be happy next season? Does Chiefs gamble and keep him, or do they rather look for a striker that is hungrier t than Khama Billiat? I will rather go for the latter,” says Nauseb.

For all the arguments that will linger about whether Billiat should stay or not, Daniel Matsau maintains the Zimbabwean’s qualities are just way too good to be ignored.

“There was a comment he made about playing much better when [Siphelele] Ntshangase is on the field because he is t the kind of player who likes to play short passes. Billiat wants to be around players w who can play with him and get passes behind the defence, but Chiefs doesn’t do t that, so it is a problem for him to play his normal football.

“I know that we talk and people don’t listen to us. I wish he could stay on for at least another year and play in a team with the new signings. Remember, Gavin Hunt hasn’t signed anybody so hopefully when new players have been signed, they will make life easier for Billiat.

“In football, reality is that if you don’t get supply it is not easy to score goals. Everyone is watching Billiat, but what are those around him doing to make him play. People around him must make it easier for him because he cannot fight alone.

“I wish Gavin Hunt can get the kind of players that he needs and from there they can play according to how he wants,” says Matsau, who had two spells with Chiefs in his prime.

“HE STILL DESERVES A CHANCE AND JUST NEEDS TO REFRESH AND FORGET ABOUT THE PAST.”