With former Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune yet to make an official decision on an offer from the club, the club's legendary ex-shot-stopper Brian Baloyi's revelations about why he joined Mamelodi Sundowns have given insight into what he might be facing.
Khune was looking forward to a few more years at the club as a player, in spite of his contract renewed only by one year last season, and after the campaign ended, Chiefs did not entertain his request for a contract extension.
Although he complicated his future at the club after facing a disciplinary hearing, he was stripped of the captaincy and suspended in December last year, the Glamour Boys had already made it clear from the beginning of last season that his one-year deal was his last as a player at Naturena.
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Chiefs have announced they have offered the Venterdorp native a non-playing role in their Marketing Department, which would come across as deciding his fate as a professional player - a 'take it or leave it' kind of a deal.
Khune has to contemplate whether to take up the offer or risk losing the association with the Glamour Boys brand, should he decide to prolong his playing career elsewhere.
Baloyi, who left Chiefs in 2004 and hurt the fanbase by joining rivals Mamelodi Sundowns after over a decade at the club, has revealed how a 'take it or leave it' deal in the contract extension negotiations, insisted on him by the hierarchy several times, left him no choice but to jump ship.
"Before it gets to Sundowns, for me what hurt me was, 'Take it or leave it' [deal]. So, I get home and I'm like are these guys serious? I said to my agent: 'No, I want to get it directly from the chairman [Kaizer Motaung Sr]'. I get the meeting with the chairman and he says: 'No, we don't have a budget from the board and everyone, that's what we are offering, that's it. It's not in a bad way, but it's 'take it or leave it'," Baloyi said on Podcast and Chill with MacG.
"For me, it's about respect, 'take it or leave it' is just disrespectful. I said to my agent: 'Let's talk to other people'. So, Sundowns came and said to me: 'We know what you earn, but here's the chequebook, just write what you want'. So, we gave them a number and they said: 'We can sign now', but I said: 'Let me go, we'll come back to you'.
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"Let me give you an accurate example, the number. I said [to Chiefs]: 'If you give me this, I'll sign. Let's say I was earning R10, 000, the club said we'll only increase by R4000 and I said I need to get to where all senior players are. They said no. I wanted R20, 000, they said no, you can't have a 100 percent increase. Sundowns said: 'Okay, you're earning R10 000, we'll give you R30 000'. I told my agent that: 'If [Chiefs] give me R16 000, I'll sign today'. They said: 'No, the offer we gave you is take it or leave it'. That's when I said it's easy to make the decision," 'Spiderman' explained.
Khune, who was regarded as an heir to Baloyi and nicknamed 'Spiderkid' in his early career at Chiefs, is seemingly in the same predicament and even more so, when there is seemingly no suitor for his services as a goalkeeper.