OPINION: Chiefs might have finally found their magic bullet in Bimenyimana

Whatever there is to make of Caleb Bimenyimana, and his potential to spearhead a Kaizer Chiefs DStv Premiership title challenge this season, there is no doubt his goal celebrations have brought an added flavour to this season’s Premier Soccer League.

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The crawling on all fours and “showing the claws” is clearly his trademark, while there was also a choreographed boogie with teammates after the Burundi international completed his hat-trick in Stellenbosch on Sunday.

That hat-trick was entirely made up of penalties, and this is a caveat before anyone can start comparing Bimenyimana to the likes of Mamelodi Sundowns’ Peter Shalulile, who he has now joined on six Premiership goals for the season.

Four of the 24-year-old’s six strikes for Chiefs have come from the spot, while just two of Shalulile’s have, not to mention the pedigree the Namibian marksman has already shown in hitting the back of the net 38 times in Sundowns’ last two championship-winning seasons.

Bimenyimana will have to prove his quality over an entire season, but this is a fantastic start.

Even with the penalties, you still have to have the composure to put them away, and he showed plenty of that on Sunday, sending Stellenbosch goalkeeper Sage Stephens the wrong way from each spot kick.

The coolness mirrored in some way Bukayo Saka, and the penalty he drilled home for Arsenal to give them a 3-2 win over Liverpool in a huge English Premier League match on Sunday (though Alisson dived the right way).

Saka has showed immense maturity and bravery to take responsibility for Arsenal from the spot, after the stick he received when he missed a decisive penalty for England in the Euro 2020 final against Italy.

Bimenyimana is also relatively young, and coming into a side like Chiefs, in front of their incredible support, he could have stepped back from wanting the responsibility of penalties.

There are, after all, plenty of more experienced attackers in the Chiefs side. Instead he has shown leadership, and thus played a key role in changing the momentum for Arthur Zwane’s Amakhosi.

Chiefs were a model of inconsistency in the first couple of months of the season, perhaps understandable given that this is Zwane’s first season as permanent head coach.

But three league wins in a row has seen them climb the table to the extent that they are now within two points of Sundowns at the top, albeit that Masandawana have a game in hand.

Chiefs will still probably have to improve defensively, with too many errors made at the back, if they are to maintain their challenge to Sundowns.

Bimenyimana, meanwhile, may well have to bang in more goals from open play if he is to maintain his challenge to Shalulile for the Golden Boot, though SuperSport United’s veteran striker Bradley Grobler also looks intent to have his say.

Even the neutral has to look forward, meanwhile, to more Bimenyimana celebrations, as good a reason as any to want him to continue to rack up the goals.