Khama Billiat Joins Prophet Magaya’s Yadah FC
Yadah FC, which defeated Manica Diamonds in the battle for Khama Billiat’s contract, will officially reveal the former Zimbabwe international tomorrow in Harare.
Contrary to social media rumours, Yadah officials will not be loaning Billiat to Dynamos in order to profit from the agreement.
Paying so much money for a player whose long-term prospects depend on his level of fitness and then lending him to Dynamos or any other local team without getting your money back is not rational.
“He will be unveiled tonight because he is scheduled to perform at Yadah.” If not, Yadah won’t be able to present him at an event, give him a Yadah kit, and subsequently lend him out.
He differs from players like Shandirwa, who are on loan at Dynamos from Yadah, in that he is still young and has contracts that, because of their favourable age, automatically extend one year after they go on loan. We don’t even know if Khama will play after this season, a Yadah representative stated this morning.
After playing with Ajax Cape Town, Mamelodi Sundowns, and Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa, Billiat made the decision to go back home.
He has not played since June of last year, when he chose to return to Zimbabwe to pursue his career after declining an offer to stay with Kaizer Chiefs, despite enticements from more modest DStv Premiership teams.
If he is able to negotiate the 2024 Castle Lager Premiership season, there is a chance that he will be able to draw short-term deals in the Middle East.
Despite Dynamos seemed to be Billiat’s final destination, his camp claims there was an issue with the signing money since the giants of Harare, although committing to a US$20,000 price, only gave US$10,000 up front and the remaining amount in June.
Manica Diamonds jumped in at that point because Billiat’s group wanted everything at once, and they appeared to have achieved an arrangement last Thursday.
According to sources, Manica Diamonds was required to pay a US$20,000 sign-on incentive, a US$3500 monthly wage, and a US$500 winning bonus; however, there was no payment made for a draw.
Even though Billiat was still in South Africa, he received a contract, but he was told to hold off. This allowed Yadah FC to gain traction by using the connections of their business partner, Pedzai “Scott” Sakupwanya, a member of parliament for Mabvuku-Tafara and a successful businessman.
They therefore devised a more advantageous deal than Manica Diamonds, leading to his Tuesday night trip to Harare, where tense situations played out at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.
Yadah is not going to force Billiat to play unless he is in good health, even though he paid a large sum of money to acquire him.
“Aside from the financial concern, Khama’s benefit in Yadah is that he won’t have any match pressure like he would at a larger team like Dynamos. Recall that last year Yadah purchased three Brazilians, but only one of them managed to score in a few minutes of play while the others were unable to qualify.
They were never under any obligation to participate. But what if Dynamos had purchased those three? Similar to Khama, there would have been too much pressure.
The Yadah official stated, “There is no way Dynamos can sign a player like him and then watch him on the sidelines without playing.”