Muhsin Ertugral has given his reasons why Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune became one of the best in his position in the country.
Khune is a key figure in South African football still playing actively at the age of 36 however he is not enjoying as much game time as he previously did. The keeper is in what most believe is his last few months in an Amakhosi jersey as a player with his contract coming to end in June.
The former Chiefs coach worked with the keeper in his second stint in Naturena between 2007 and 2009 saying a lot of the success at the club during those days can also be credited to Khune and his abilities.
The Turkish-born coach gave a tribute to Khune in Edition 149 of iDiski Times telling the newspaper’s editor Rob Delport how Khune always supported his God-given talent with passion and hard work to stay at the top of his game.
“After the training session Itu and Shabba were there and normally a young striker. So after every training session, maybe 100 balls – free kicks, corners, penalties or even precise balls on certain spots,” Ertugral told iDiski Times.
“Itu was after every training session, on the field, and practising 100 balls. So it was enthusiasm, it was passion. And he talked on those years about achieving and he wanted to achieve. I would have loved that he would have played maybe in a league like France, his dynamic football, the game is much more fluent in technicalities. He would be a great goalkeeper there.”
“The Real Madrid goalkeeper, all those years [Iker] Casillas, is he much taller than Itu? Also an unbelievable goalkeeper because of playing behind a certain defence, that the defence can play 10 metres higher up. That was actually Itu and all the success and all those years that Chiefs had, he was key.”
“You are rightly saying legend. He is more than a legend, if there’s a word finding out what is more than a legend, he is Kaizer Chiefs, he is a legend. And there’s a lot of huge percentage of the success of Kaizer Chiefs because of his abilities.”
