- Billiat has been at Chiefs for five seasons
- His Amakhosi contract is coming to an end
- A Bafana legend backs the Zimbabwean
WHAT HAPPENED? Billiat’s contract with Amakhosi run out at the end of June and he has become a subject of transfer speculation. The 32-year-old has been at Chiefs for the last five seasons, having started out at Cape Town Spurs in 2010 before another five years at Mamelodi Sundowns.
Former Ajax goalkeeper Vonk describes the forward as a “special weapon” as he goes down memory lane from their days at Spurs before concluding that Billiat still has it in him.
WHAT VONK SAID: "Khama came with another guy from Zimbabwe [Tafadzwa Rusike] and with Khama you could see already with Khama that he was more talented," said Vonk as per KickOff.
"He had what as we call it ‘a special weapon’ because he was unbelievably fast, and he could create chances and score goals.
"What I remember the most is that he was always willing and eager to learn.
"Luckily for him at the time he had the best coach that you could ever wish for in Mr Foppe de Haan who made all the young players at Ajax Cape Town to become better.
"Khama was already exceptional, and it was proven when he went to Sundowns and then to Chiefs. Despite the great career that he has had it is a pity that he never tried it out in Europe to see whether he could meet the standards there.
"It is a pity that it is now late, and we will never know if he would have made it or not. But that is still not important because he has had an amazing career here. If he had gone to Europe, he would have then been coming to South Arica now with all that experience.
"He never did that and I’m sure he had his reasons which I don’t know. However, I still feel Khama is the kind of player that you always want to have in your team instead of as an opponent on any given day."
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Since arriving at Chiefs in 2018, Billiat has struggled to replicate the form of his Spurs days when he made his name and the kind of football that saw him being instrumental in Sundowns’ Caf Champions League title triumph in 2016.
Now, he has just concluded a difficult season blighted by injuries and limiting him to 10 Premier Soccer League matches, the lowest number of games he has ever played in his PSL career. When he had game time earlier in the season, Billiat was struggling for goals.
His performances saw, for the first time, Amakhosi fans turning against him as they booed him from the stands even though his attacking partners missed a lot of chances he created for them.
WHAT NEXT FOR BILLIAT? Chiefs fans are anxiously waiting to know if Billiat will stay at Naturena or will be released.
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