What Khune Must Do To Get Back His Old Self At Chiefs – Brian Baloyi

Former Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Brian Baloyi says one of the things that can help Itumeleng Khune get back to his best is to see a psychologist. During the late stages of his career, Baloyi was a mentor to Khune who was making his way into professional football at the time.

Khune has had a difficult time in Naturena in the recent past seasons with a limited game time being the main issue. One of the things that continue to contribute to this awful time is never-ending injuries.

Speaking to SABC Sports, Baloyi said Khune must change his lifestyle to gain his old self. “Itu – we know the talent he has, but it has to come from him believing that he still has it for him to make it,” Baloyi told SABC Sport.

“For me, he needs to change a lot of things, including his lifestyle, and make a sacrifice that, ‘I’m sacrificing myself for my last three, four or five years, and forget about everything else.

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“Change your lifestyle, and I’m not saying he’s got a bad lifestyle but I’m saying, for him to do this, he’ll need to completely overhaul his lifestyle – family, friends, everything.

“Just put everything into his football, and that includes having a chef, a personal trainer – and not just someone from Virgin Active giving you unnecessary things to do and then you post all of these things [on social media].

“It needs to be someone that will really sit with him and understand that he needs to get him to this level, and this weight, and maintain it for so many years, so that he can be back to his best again. If he’s doing all these things and still not playing, I’d say maybe he needs to move then. But, for me, it would be an injustice for him to just finish his career [on the sidelines].

Baloyi believes this is the perfect time that Khune should be enjoying his career more than before. He says he has lost so much time after not playing for “three-and-a-half to four years”.

“I mean he hasn’t played [consistently] for three-and-a-half to four years – that’s a lot of time lost! I went to Sundowns when I was 30, I made the FIFA Confed Cup at 36 – I was the fittest I had been in my life because my drive was to make the World Cup squad,” Baloyi added.

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“I sacrificed everything and I put my soul and everything into it, and I made the [initial] team but I was just short of making the World Cup squad. I can’t see why Khune can’t do it.

“I don’t understand why he’s let himself lose so many years, because it’s the most important years in your career as a goalkeeper. But for you to have wasted that much – geez – after having such a beautiful career is an injustice.

“I know maybe as black folk in South Africa, we don’t believe much in psychology. For me, I think he needs a psychologist. He’s got time now – if he invests in that, by the time the next season starts, he would have done a lot of work. And, like I said, he needs to work on himself and forget about what everyone else is saying – I think he’s put too much emphasis on caring about what people are saying about him – from the public to coaches.

“Forget about what everybody says and do you. But go out there and claim your place again. For me, I think, if he doesn’t do that, it will be an injustice of his career, from how it started to where it is, to finish in this way, ” Baloyi concluded.