Superstar Itumeleng Khune remains as committed as ever to Chiefs. Image: @diskifans / Twitter
Itumeleng Khune opens up on how things changed for him
Chiefs legend Itumeleng Khune has spoken out about some of the key changes that enabled him to get back to top match fitness.
Superstar Itumeleng Khune remains as committed as ever to Chiefs. Image: @diskifans / Twitter
With Khune previously battling to reclaim his No.1 spot in the Chiefs team in recent times, there was talk from some pundits during the off-season that he should perhaps look at moving to another club to be able to start playing regularly.
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However, the 35-year-old has always emphatically stated that he is happy at the club and won’t be looking to leave, while he has recently rediscovered some notable form and begun to work his way back into the team as a first-team regular.
Besides some injury troubles, Khune has also battled with his conditioning over recent seasons, and he has now revealed what he struggled with as he sought to get back to high-level match fitness. Without pointing blame at former goalkeeper coach Lee Baxter, Khune did imply that things were far better now when it came to keeping track of weight levels.
“I come to work, I do my job, I go back home and I spend time with my family,” the veteran keeper told iDiski Times. “Like I said earlier, the critical information that was meant to be shared with me, of my results, was kept away, I don’t know the reasons. But if only I had known that I have gained weight, I have gained body fat, I would have surely done something about it, but I don’t know why it was kept away.
“And you can see that after the club released him everything changed because now everything is visible. We are being told everything, every six weeks we are testing, we are doing our weights, we are doing our skin folds.
“There are certain targets for us to meet in order for us to be able to play for Kaizer Chiefs. So, I’m happy that I was able to meet those targets because my body fat percentage at some point was 16, and before the start of the first game of the season it dropped to 12.
“I told my wife that we need to get it down to eight, so that if it does go up at some point it will be just below 10. So, you must always set yourself higher goals instead of when someone says, give me this, then you limit yourself.”
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Khune has no intention to retire any time soon
Earlier this year, Khune explained why he was not willing to consider leaving the club even during a period of limited game-time.
“I will never entertain that I should leave the club. I will never go anywhere. I’m a ‘Khosi for Life’,” the 35-year-old previously said at the DStv Premiership’s 2022-23 preseason launch.
“I’ve been given an opportunity from the development to the senior side. I’ve been given the responsibility of captaining the biggest club on the continent, so I wouldn’t be entertaining ideas that I would like to leave the club in the future.”
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