Itumeleng Khune will be swapping his goalkeeper gloves for swanky marketing suits and ties.
The former Bafana Bafana number one goalkeeper is at the crossroads of his career as he is no longer on the playing personnel at Amakhosi after the club made it clear that last season was his last as captain of the glamour club.
Insiders have revealed that the club has identified a role for Khune in the marketing department, where he will work closely with the marketing manager Jessica Motaung.
Khune was not in new coach Nasreddine Nabi’s plans after the Tunisian trainer left him out of the travelling squad for the off-season preparation camp in Turkey.
Khune has spent 25 years at the club and he wants to retire and continue his career at Naturena in a new role there. He was touted to become a coach in the development ranks.
“The head of marketing Jessica Motaung, has been out of town and when she returns, they will then sit down and resolve Khune’s situation.
“Itu has been at Chiefs for more than 20 years and he is now part of the family. He is very close with club bosses, the Motaung family and he served the club with distinction,” a club insider said.
Said another informant: “He was one of the biggest earners in the country and he will have to take a massive salary cut.
“The problem here is the salary. He could have left but he loves Chiefs with his whole heart, and he did not want to look for another club elsewhere, even though he still wanted to play for a couple of seasons. It was a catch-22 situation because if he left, he would have ruined a legacy and it was going to be very difficult for him to go back to Chiefs when he retired, had he broken the 25-year spell he’s had with the club. It’s either he takes up that position [with a salary cut] or he leaves the club,” he added.
“The problem with football is that salaries work from top to bottom. They start with high salaries and then towards the end of their careers, they have to settle for way too less – unlike in the corporate world where you start with a smaller salary and the more experience you get, the higher the remuneration becomes.”
Earlier this year, Jessica Motaung said the club would make an announcement regarding Khune’s future. “We are having discussions with him and he is part of the family. After 25 years he is like a little brother to me.”
Khune was also a star goalkeeper for Bafana, where he amassed an impressive 91 caps, including appearances in the 2010 Fifa World Cup and a few Afcon tournaments.
He has played close to 300 games since he joined the first team in 2004.
Chiefs spokesperson Vina Maphosa told Sunday World yesterday: “It is still an on-going matter. There isn’t much to comment on at this moment and the club will inform the media once everything has been concluded. The discussions are still going on between the two parties.”
