Khama Billiat will have to provide answers to the bread-and-butter matters that he was brought back to Zimbabwe to do – play football, after all the glitz and glamour of his return.
Billiat is back home in Harare where he has signed for Yadah FC on a deal that makes him the best paid player in the league by far.
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So much effort has been spent on matters related to his return, package, and unveiling since he landed back home two weeks ago.
However, as the dust settles Billiat now must get the job done on the field.
While there is absolutely nothing to doubt his abilities, there remains good reason to have questions about his sharpness and how he will adapt in a league where he only briefly played as a teenager 14 years ago before crossing to South Africa.
The Castle Lager Premier Soccer League in Zimbabwe gets underway this weekend with all eyes on whether Billiat will be ready.
Yadah start the season on Sunday with a long trip to the Colliery Stadium where they will play Hwange.
A trip to the coal mining town is never easy and will be a world of a difference compared to the comforts of what he had grown familiar to in the DStv Premiership.
The 33-year-old has moved back home after scoring 97 goals playing for Ajax Cape Town, Mamelodi Sundowns, and Kaizer Chiefs.
Of concern is that he hasn’t played football for a long time.
The last time that Billiat ran onto a pitch was almost a year ago and, on that occasion, he lasted just over a minute before being forced out by injury.
This means the last real action he got was on October 29, 2022, when he lasted 79 minutes for Chiefs in their 1-0 win against Orlando Pirates.
That was 17 months ago.
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It was a season in which Billiat only made 12 appearances totalling 852 minutes as injuries ravaged his campaign.
Sunday will provide a hint of how far away Billiat is from coming back to do the damage that he is capable of.
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