The end of the year will mark six months since the expiry of Itumeleng Khune's last playing contract at Kaizer Chiefs.
Khune is negotiating a career pause, which has left him in semi-retirement after Chiefs opted not to offer him another playing contract at the end of June when his one-year extension went up.
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Amakhosi had already indicated upon activation of that one-year deal in 2023 that it would be the last for the keeper who earned unquestionable legendary status at the club.
What will forever make Khune's case special is that he only ever played for the Soweto giants, spending 25 years from the day he joined as a development player to the last day he reported to the club's base in Naturena.
For many of the Chiefs fans who watched the 37-year-old from when he got his break in 2007, he will be difficult to erase from the rank of being the best keeper to serve the club.
Then, for Khune himself, could his refusal to call it quits be based on the fact that his age mates are still going on in the Betway Premiership or maybe that the general quality of what he sees every week doesn't surpass what he can still offer?
Washington Arubi is showing no signs of slowing down at Marumo Gallants and is set to play at the AFCON finals aged 40 next year.
His deputy – Daniel Akpeyi - is also older than Khune.
Denis Onyango has kept himself in the playing frame at Mamelodi Sundowns five months before he turns 40.
Sekhukhune United's first-choice keeper Ali Badra Sangare is 39 in May but has kept up to the pace so much that he is still relevant in Cote d'Ivoire as well.
The other two keepers still with contracts in the PSL and older than Khune are Lee Langeveldt of Stellenbosch FC and Hugo Nyame at Royal AM.
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With all of this, the reality for the Ventersdorp-born man is that it is now a year since he played 90 minutes and his numbers from his last three years playing in the PSL show a drop.
The veteran keeper only played 20 games in his last three seasons at Chiefs.