Former Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Brilliant Khuzwayo has made some revelations about his early retirement and Irvin Khoza's role in the decision.
The eThekwini municipality had a lunch earlier this week where Khuzwayo was celebrated for his contribution to football at the Hilton Hotel in Durban.
Khuzwayo revealed at the event why the decision to retire was taken seven months after the club first realised the severity of his injury, which could have led to paralysis.
"There was a report that came up earlier in November, and I think Dr Irvin Khoza pushed it, he kept believing that maybe a miracle can still happen," Khuzwayo said.
"But an ankle injury can take up to eight weeks to heal properly, but for a year not to heal showed something was wrong, so we had a sit-down with the chairman so I could understand all the reports.
"We tried many options but unfortunately it was too bad. I would've ended up paralysed if I carried on playing."
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Khuzwayo's former agent Tim Sukazi spoke about how difficult it was for them to come to the decision to hang up his gloves at the age of 29.
"The decision of Khuzwayo's retirement was not an easy one. At the end we're realistic enough to admit that we had no choice because we took all options, there were doctors who came with different suggestions which made it hard for us to come up with such a decision," Sukazi said.
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"Khuzwayo was still hungry to play football, it was not easy to make him understand. We knew about this in November 2018, but Orlando Pirates had to delay things for their own reasons hence he managed to play in the Multichoice Diski Challenge."
Sukazi explained that they had two options; either risk his health by carrying on with football or retire and be taken care of for the rest of his life.
"We made some financial considerations. The situation was it's either you retire and get compensation now or carry on with playing which was a risk, so we had to weigh in between those two choices which helped us to come up with a decision."
PHOTOS: Khuzwayo's career highlights