Burundian international Caleb Bimenyimana’s future at Kaizer Chiefs will come under scrutiny come end of the season.
The 25-year-old started the season brightly, with his brace against SuperSport United winning Chiefs the game. He hit the target again in a 2-1 win against Swallows and looked like he was the answer to the club’s scoring problems.
Caleb Bimenyimana went on to bag a hattrick of penalties, writing himself into the history books as the first player to achieve the feat since the inception of the Premier Soccer League in 1996/97.
His tally so far is eight goals in all competitions since joining the club at the start of the current campaign.
However, following the arrival of Christian Saile, the Swallows of Burundi forward has fallen out of favour. Saile has scored three goals in 13 appearances for Chiefs. Two of those were in the league.
In fact, between February and May, he started only three games out of 14 in all competitions.
In the last two games, the lanky centre-forward has not made the matchday squad despite being fit to play.
He was not part of the team that travelled to face Chippa United on Freedom Day. He also missed the Swallows FC tie over the weekend.
SN24 has since established that the club has informally told him that he has no future at Naturena.
However, it is unclear if the player will be released from his contract or if he meant a loan spell for the remainder of his contract.
Caleb Bimenyimana signed a two-year deal with an option of a year. He will have a season left at the end of the season.
“He’s been told that he may have to look elsewhere next season as he is not part of the coach’s plans. From the look of things, the club will release him,” a club source said.
Before signing for Chiefs, Bimenyimana was assessed by Zwane and his technical team. The Chiefs mentor then came out and told the media that he was not the type of striker he wanted.
At the 2022/23 DStv Premiership season launch just days before the first round of fixtures, Zwane made it clear they were only partially satisfied with the forward.
“Look, he has done well, to be quite honest. We’re still undecided as to whether we will bring him on or if we are still looking. We’re looking for a certain type of striker with the way we want to play and how we are going to play in future,” he said.
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“We can’t just have someone who will sit inside the box. Yes, he is very mobile and comfortable on the ball, but we are also looking at other qualities. If we can get one better than him, we might go for that. But at the moment, there is no one better than him while we are still looking. The league has also given us the opportunity by extending the deadline [for the transfer window], so we will capitalise on that. We will keep hunting until we find one,” Arthur Zwane said.
However, the club made a U-turn after the 4-0 drubbing by Mamelodi Sundowns, signing the striker on August 18, 2022. With pressure mounting on them, Amakhosi hastily brought the striker to Naturena.