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JOHANNESBURG. – Khama Billiat’s agent Mike Ngobeni says the player is very excited to join his boyhood club Kaizer Chiefs.

According to Ngobeni, Billiat turned down offers from teams in Turkey, as well as one from Egyptian giants Zamalek.

“Look, I’m a servant of players. I work for players, okay? So when you work for a player, the player at the end of the day needs to decide.

“I have done my homework, I brought (to him) not one contract, not even one offer, I brought contracts and offers.

“I went to Zim, spoke to his mother and father. And they were certain that he wants to go to Kaizer Chiefs. So Chiefs won, I had a good one in Turkey from a team from League Two.

“What I’ve done was to explain to him the countries and their leagues. Players are different; some players are interested in zeros, but with Khama if you do that you will have a problem.

“Another thing he said to me was that he made consultation with (Willard) Katsande and (Leonardo) Castro, so they’ve been talking also and he ended up deciding.

“I can tell you the boy is excited, so excited. He decided that no, he was certain with Kaizer Chiefs. I had to give him another two more days. I told him ‘think about it (and) I will come see you in Zim’.’’

Securing the most valuable signature in local football was not too difficult, according to Kaizer Chiefs football manager Bobby Motaung, who completed the signing of Billiat last week.

Despite Mamelodi Sundowns’ best efforts to hold onto Billiat, the Zimbabwean international decided to join his boyhood club Kaizer Chiefs on a three-year deal.

Motaung did not only engage with the player, but with his family as well in an effort to capture what will arguably be the biggest transfer during the window.

“It was not difficult. As you know he is a big player and we all know that it was understood that he is going overseas and all the big clubs were interested in him,’’ Motaung said.

“He was available during this window, but we do things uniquely here at Chiefs in terms of how we negotiate our deals and how we approach the players.

“It was a number of factors that actually clinched the deal. The way we engaged the player and his family, it was welcoming for him to come to Chiefs.”

Billiat, who lifted the COSAFA Cup with the Warriors recently, brings a wealth of experience from his time at Sundowns, where he won trophies both locally and on the continent.

Amakhosi will need him to be at his best if they are to rediscover their glory days.

Meanwhile, Mamelodi Sundowns are not worried about losing Billiat and possibly Percy Tau before the start of the new season and while their CAF Champions League campaign is ongoing.

Billiat has already made the switch across Gauteng to join a fellow “Big Three” club in Kaizer Chiefs, while Tau is determined to make a move to Europe, where English Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion have expressed serious interest in him.

Both Billiat and Tau were key to Sundowns’ success last season, scoring 22 goals and providing 25 assists between them in all competitions.

Losing them would mean Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane has to find new combinations in attack, but the Absa Premiership champions always have a plan to replace their stars, as was the case when Keagan Dolly and Bongani Zungu both left for Europe.

“We’ve had Keagan Dolly who left Sundowns. Was there a crisis? Percy Tau filled the gap. We lost Bongani Zungu, was there a crisis? No. Tiyani Mabunda came up,” Sundowns spokesperson Thulani Thuswa said.

“Do you think we don’t have back-up for all those players? Of course we do.

“Have you seen Keletso Makgalwa? Have you seen Andile Jali? You know what he can do. There’s Toni Silva, you know what he can do. So why would we have a funeral if players leave?” – Kick-Off.