Kaizer Chiefs’ Khama Billiat injured again on his return from injury

Former Warriors forward Khama Billiat made a five minutes cameo when Kaizer Chiefs lost 0-1 to Cape Town City in their last game of the season on Saturday.

Billiat who made the match day squad for the first time since October after suffering a serious groin injury, was subbed on in the 43rd minute to replace injured Ashley Du Preez.

However, the 33-year-old forward only lasted up to half time as Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane subbed him off at halftime.

Zwane confirmed Billiat was taken off at halftime because he sustained a knock.

As a result, the gaffer felt it was risky to let him continue playing.

“It is sad when you see a quality player like Khama suffering from injuries,” said Zwane.

“He was actually supposed to come back two weeks back. We anticipated that he should be ready before the semi-finals [Nedbank Cup], and we wanted to build him up.

“To be quite honest, even today, if we had all the other players available, we were not going to risk Khama. The plan also was to play him for 20 minutes to build him up going forward.

“Unfortunately, we found ourselves in a situation where we didn’t have a striker as we lost Ashley [Du Preez], and we needed a player of his quality [Billiat].”

He added: “I told him not to make too many runs because we are trying to build him. We needed his quality in holding the ball, connecting to whoever is coming and creating space. We didn’t expect him to be explosive as we know him.

“It only took him 15 minutes or less on the field, and when I saw him limping, I said ‘here we go again’. We lost important players when we needed them the most due to injuries and sickness.”

This could bring more uncertainty to the 2016 Soccer Star of the Year’s future at Chiefs as his contract expires in June.

The Soweto giants are yet to offer him a new deal, and it will remain to be seen whether they keep or release him.