Once again there is no sign of veteran goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune in the Kaizer Chiefs starting XI or among the substitutes. Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Chiefs stalwart responds to lack of game time with two words!
Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune has shared a thinly-veiled message in response to a question about his limited game-time.
Once again there is no sign of veteran goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune in the Kaizer Chiefs starting XI or among the substitutes. Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Khune’s position as first-choice keeper at Kaizer Chiefs has become a thing of the past, and has only featured once in goals for the club in their season opener against Mamelodi Sundowns.
Bruce Bvuma and Brandon Peterson have been exchanging the place to deputise for Daniel Akpeyi, who was in action as Chiefs’ unbeaten run in the DStv Premiership came to an end after a narrow 1-0 defeat at Royal AM on Sunday, with the Nigerian making his 10th appearance between the sticks this season.
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Khune – who is still under contract until the end of next season – has featured in less than a quarter of all the games that Chiefs have played in the last four years.
On social media, a fan of Khune asked what he had done to fall out of favour, to which he replied: “Eish fam”, with two revealing emojies.
Age catching up with 34-year-old Chiefs’ Khune?
Recently, Ronnie Kanalelo, who played for Mamelodi Sundowns told Kick Off that it was time to make peace with the fact that Khune’s position as a frontline player at Chiefs was over.
“He (Khune) has done well in the past and there is no doubt about that but then injuries affected his game, and he is not getting younger now. Before Itumeleng Khune there was Brian Baloyi and before Brian there were other keepers.
“We need to be realistic about this because we don’t know what the real issue is with him not even being able to sit on the bench. Chiefs have three other keepers and two of them are younger in Bvuma and Peterson who are all capable. I think the club has realised that they cannot be stuck in the past and with Bvuma he is in the national team, so he is the future.
“Akpeyi is of a quiet nature in his game, so he is not flamboyant and popular but then what matters is that he gets the job done. Itu can still another four or five years, but the question is that does he still want to play those years at another club.
“As things stand Chiefs is doing fine without him and we don’t know if he still has it to play for Chiefs. I would not want to get past with going on about what Itu did some 10 or 15 years ago when he started coming through to take over at Chiefs and in the national team,” said Kanalelo.
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