Billiat may move to European club

Qarabag to edge Chiefs, Pirates and Wits to Billiat signing?

AZERBAIJANI champions Qarabag FK are believed to be preparing a lucrative offer for the services of Warriors and Mamelodi Sundowns forward Khama Billiat.

According to Soccer Laduma, the 27-year-old Zimbabwean international has been linked with a move to the Azerbaijani outfit since last year, however, according to sources, Qarabag have since intensified their interest.

Sources have revealed that the European club is looking to offer Billiat an attractive deal, in order to try and snap up his signature on a pre-contract, to avoid a bidding war.

It seems more and more likely that the player’s time with Sundowns is nearing its end, with Billiat’s contract set to expire on June 30 this year and still no signature on a new Masandawana deal.

With the player recently being linked to other European suitors as well as Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Bidvest Wits, Head Coach Pitso Mosimane has already revealed that he’s been preparing for life without Billiat, despite his contributions to the team as of late.

Now it seems that Billiat could opt for a move abroad rather than locally, with Qarabag determined to offer the player a deal that he can’t refuse.

With just four months left on his current contract with Sundowns, it remains to be seen where Billiat’s next destination in his football career will be. 

Two weeks ago Independent Media reported that Billiat had joined M-Sports Management on a two-year contract to represent him after he dumped his former agent Siyabulela Loyilane.

Billiat parted ways with Loyilane after she failed to help the Zimbabwean international to fulfil his dream of plying his trade in Europe.

Billiat is on the last four months of his contract with Sundowns, and is yet to renew it. He has also been linked with Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.

Michael Ngobeni, who is the director of M-Sports Management, told Independent Media that he was elated to welcome Billiat to his stable.

“Khama joined M-Sport Management now. We are happy and the company is doing well. We are going to work with Khama in his best interests to make sure that everything will be handled correctly,” Ngobeni said.

“From now onwards, everything will be handled by M-Sport. We had a good relationship before in the past six to seven years with a previous manager of his (Edzai Kasinauyo, who passed away), we worked closely together and he was our mentor.

“So Khama is happy to join us and everything is going to go according to God’s plan.”

Billiat has been with Sundowns for the past five seasons. He joined them from Ajax Cape Town in 2013, and has won the Caf Champions League, Nedbank Cup, Absa Premiership and the Telkom Knockout.

M-Sports Management have the likes of Justin Shonga, Edmore Chirambadare, Dove Wome and Lameck Banda, who will join Sundowns next year, on their books.

“Khama was voted the second best player playing in Africa. He is the best player in South Africa right now, if not the whole of southern Africa.

“We need to be honest to each other. We are happy as a company to manage a player like Khama. To manage talent like him is big for the company.

“We have to do everything correctly to make sure that it works. As an agent, it is everyone’s dream to manage Saido Mané, Yaya Touré and Lionel Messi.

“We cannot manage Messi, but we’ve got our own Messi now, which we need to embrace. We need to make sure that he is well looked after.

“We have to make sure that he is in good hands, and he is happy and at peace. We have to make his dream come true.” – soccerladuma.co.za/iol.co.za

Who is Qarabag

 QARABAG Futbol Klubu, commonly known as Qarabag is an Azerbaijani football club playing in the Azerbaijan Premier League. The club originates from Agdam, ruined and abandoned since 1993 due to the Nagorno-Karabakh war, and is now based in Baku, the capital.

Formed in 1951, Qarabag were founding members of the Azerbaijan Premier League in 1992. One season later, they won their first league championship, becoming the first non-Baku-based club to win the Premier League title. Qarabağ is one of the two teams in Azerbaijan, along with Neftçi PFK which has participated in all Premier League championships so far.

Qarabag plays its matches at the Azersun Arena and Tofiq Bahramov Stadium in Baku, which also serves as the venue for Azerbaijan national team matches.

In 2014, the club won the Premier League, their first league title in 21 years. Qarabag have won the Premier league five times and Azerbaijan Cup six times. Qarabag became the second Azerbaijani team to advance to the group stage of a European competition, making its first of three consecutive seasons in the UEFA Europa League group stages in 2014–15. Qarabag is the first Azerbaijani team to advance to the group stage of the higher UEFA Champions League, competing in the 2017–18 season.