KHAMA Billiat will have a double-edged motive for the new season at Kaizer Chiefs as he seeks to earn legendary status in domestic football.
Top of the list is the fact that with effect from next month Billiat will headline the list of players heading into the last year of their contract at the club.
Billiat signed a two-year extension at the beginning of the just-ended season and will have completed five years when his contract expires this time next year having joined from the joy of Mamelodi Sundowns in 2018.
The Zimbabwean forward is amongst the top earners in domestic football on a package of over R8 million per annum. His earnings have always been the subject of debate especially when he struggled.
He has endured frustrating times at Chiefs failing to lift silverware while also only getting into double figures on the scoring just once through the four years that he has already spent at the club. To earn another deal at Chiefs, Billiat will have to turn on the magic and his efforts during the off-season suggest he is up to the challenge based on those close to him.
This past season he had eight goals plus eight assists in 29 appearances with his numbers improved by the fact that he had a familiar figure of Keagan Dolly helping him out in attack. Also, in sight for the 31-year-old is his big chase to become only the sixth footballer to score 100 goals playing for a South African top league club.
Billiat has 97 and is set to be the next to join Siyabonga Nomvete, Daniel Mudau, Mabhuti Khenyeza Tico-Tico, and Collins Mbesuma in the class of those to have reached 100.
Nomvete who leads with 123 goals, Mudau, Khenyeza and Tico-Tico have all since retired while Mbesuma spent the past season as player-assistant coach at GladAfrica Championship club Pretoria Callies. Billiat has scored his goals through the 12 years he has spent playing in South Africa having started out with Ajax Cape Town before moving to Sundowns in 2013. – kickoff