Kaizer Chiefs defender Daniel Cardoso completed his fourth consecutive season as the most important player at the club, despite being an undervalued player amongst the fans.
Being a defender, Cardoso's value is normally undermined but his worth is proven in his game-count contribution through the past four years.
In the recently ended DStv Premiership campaign, the former Free State Stars full-back made 29 league appearances – the most by any player at Chiefs.
He missed only a single game when he was serving a one-match suspension due to an accumulation of yellow cards last month.
Of all his league appearances, he started on the bench just once and put in a full 90-minute shift in all but three of the other 28 games, playing either as a central defender or defensive midfielder.
The 32-year-old scored once in the league – a goal that came in the 2-1 Soweto Derby defeat to Orlando Pirates at the end of January.
The weight of his worth in game minutes is proven by the fact that last season he put in a clean sweep contribution of 30 league appearances.
He was an ever-present in that infamous campaign under Ernst Middendorp, when Chiefs came within minutes of winning the league title, while he also contributed four goals.
In the 2018/19 season, initially overseen by Giovanni Solinas before Middendorp's arrival halfway through, Cardoso again had the most league appearances at 26 – joint top with current captain Bernard Parker.
For the 2017/18 campaign, his league game count also reached 30 in a season that was mostly overseen by Steve Komphela, before his sacking towards the end of the campaign.
Unfortunately for Cardoso, he is without any silverware for all the six years that he has spent in Naturena since arriving from Ea Lla Koto back in July 2015.