Khama Billiat has been offered friendly advice about his decision to leave Kaizer Chiefs prior to the start of the season.
In July, as Chiefs were finalising preparations for the current campaign, Billiat left the Soweto giants as his contract had expired at the end of June even though the club had plans to renew it.
It remains unclear why the former Zimbabwean international decided against extending his stay in Naturena although several reports suggested that Amakhosi had proposed to cut his salary.
Other reports suggested that an overseas move had been promised to the 33-year-old.
Five months after his Chiefs contract expired, Billiat remains without a club and local football agent Ratshibvumo Mulovhedzi weighs in on what might have happened.
The Good
"As an agent and having dealt with situations like this one of Khama Billiat before, my only advice to him would be to go back to Chiefs and ask for forgiveness. Chiefs wanted to give him a new contract and for whatever reason he rejected it. Go back to the club and ask for forgiveness, and if you are successful, you will get a chance to play football again at one of the big clubs where you were loved by a lot of supporters. He should take whatever the club is offering him and then focus on playing football to revive his career. Even if it means he will have to take less than what he was earning in his previous contract, he should accept it and just play football. For his own benefit and that of his family, he should go back to Chiefs as I believe that he still has a lot to offer to the club. He can combine well with (Edson) Castillo and others and get the team to play and produce the much-needed results," said Mulovhedzi.
The Bad
"I suspect that Billiat was ill-advised. A lot of football players do not do their homework. They don't do their own research when they are getting promised all these things by people. There are scammers out there who go out to confuse these guys and most of the time footballers end up being victims. Scammers do their homework and they have got their own way of persuading players into believing that they are wanted by big clubs overseas even if that is far from the truth. They even fake contracts to make players believe that they are valid. A lot of footballers and former footballers are struggling out there because of things like this. They were promised heaven and earth but nothing materialised," the intermediary added.
The Ugly
"My advice to footballers out there is that they should learn from Billiat's situation. Be careful of the people who are advising you. When you do well, people will come to tell you that you are wanted by clubs in Dubai and so on and don't just get excited about that and agree without doing your own research. I could be wrong, but I think Billiat was conned," he said.
"The contract was there for Billiat"
"Whoever advised Billiat against accepting the offer that was made to him by Chiefs got it all wrong. As an agent, you cannot advise a player to reject an offer that is there. The contract was there for Billiat to sign, and he was advised to reject it in the hope of getting something that was not guaranteed. Today, he has no job because he was promised a job verbally without anything concrete that was available. My players are always having contracts because I don't like comparing offers and I go for the first club that gives us an offer for a player," concluded Mulovhedzi.
What would your advice to Billiat be?
