Ahead of the 2021/22 season, Kaizer Chiefs made a massive investment to bring Keagan Dolly back to Mzansi after the expiration of his contract with Montpellier. At the time, it felt like a major coup for a club looking to improve on an eighth-place finish in the previous campaign under a transfer ban. As we edge towards three years at the Naturena-based club for the highly-rated attacker, The Soweto Giants must decide whether or not to renew his contract. We look at whether this would represent a good decision for the club from a financial perspective and in terms of what he brings on the pitch. Could they decide to part ways with him and be left ruing their decision if he excels elsewhere? In this feature, Soccer Laduma investigates a tricky decision for the Glamour Boys to navigate.
Has the risk paid off?
When Keagan Dolly was signed, it carried a risk for Kaizer Chiefs for four different reasons. Firstly, he had not played regular football in almost five years as his time at Montpellier saw injuries and other factors limit his minutes. From January 2017 when he signed for the French club, until June 2021 when his deal expired, Dolly had 22 starts and 42 substitute outings to show for his time in the South of France. Basically, he was averaging 500-odd minutes per season. The player's injury record was another red flag as it played a part in his lack of regular minutes on the Mediterranean Sea. Chiefs knew he wasn't necessarily a durable player who would play every week. Then we had the fact that he wasn't even that experienced in the local game with just 89 appearances in the top-flight and a best-ever goal return of four strikes in a season. That's a similar number of outings in the big league to Yusuf Maart, who was renowned as a late bloomer. The final possible red flag was that he was returning to local shores in the first place. Surely a 28-year-old playing in a big five league could at least have moved to Belgium or the Netherlands. With the massive pay packet he was able to demand, one could question whether it may lead to a lack of hunger.
The goals and assists have dried up
After a fantastic start under Stuart Baxter, the Westbury- born man ended his first season with just two goals and two assists in his final 20 outings. He had already lost some of the early spark by the time Arthur Zwane took charge and tried to use Dolly as a left-sided number 10, a left winger or as a number 10. The second season for the left-footer saw six goals and five assists in 31 matches, whilst this season has seen one assist in eight matches. If we add those stats together, we come out at eight goals and eight assists in his last 59 appearances. Now, we can partly blame Chiefs' lack of a ruthless striker for Dolly having so few assists. You can guarantee if he was playing with Peter Shalulile that his goal creation numbers would be a lot higher. The question is whether this dip in his scoring and creating data is something that will reverse itself or whether it's too late for that at the age of 31.
This season's numbers when fit
This season, Dolly missed the first 10 matches due to the knee surgery he underwent. Back on 23 April 2023, he was injured against Sekhukhune United and it took until 3 October to see him back on the pitch against Cape Town City. Those five-odd months coincided with an off-season break, but still, Chiefs paid out millions of Rands to Dolly with no return during that time. His first start was under Cavin Johnson, away to Golden Arrows in an inside right position in a narrow 4-3-2-1 formation. It was a very quiet return with just one touch in the box, five passes into the final third and two shots set up for teammates in his 66 minutes of pitch time. Next up was a game against bottom-placed Cape Town Spurs. Dolly was again used high up and narrow on the right and this time creating six chances including assisting Christian Saile's goal. He played practically the full match in a big step towards returning to his best level. In the Soweto Derby in November, Amakhosi had just two shots (none on target) in the first half as the pint-sized attacker was tasked to provide genuine width, something that isn't really his game anymore. Maybe it was a bit much to throw him into a game of that magnitude so soon after his return as he picked up an injury and wasn't seen in the four matches prior to the Africa Cup of Nations break. Since the hiatus, Dolly has started twice. He was used as a pure number 10 against Moroka Swallows but was sacrificed early due to Edmilson Dove's red card. It was an ineffective display with just 22 touches of the ball and no dribbles or chances created. The lack of real influence when used as a number 10 continued in the 1-0 win over Arrows as Chiefs only mustered six shots all game, none of which were taken by or created by Dolly. An injury leading up to the recent Soweto Derby ruled him out of that match, so we are not sure if he would have started. The likelihood is that he may have been selected with Mduduzi Mdantsane left on the bench.
Should Chiefs build around Dolly?
The fact is, when you spend R1 million a month on a player, you simply have to build the entire team around his skill-set, preferred position and everything else. That player needs to be the first name on the teamsheet every week and be expected to produce match-winning moments. Right now, it's a very valid question whether Dolly is even in Chiefs' best XI when fit. Nkosingiphile Ngcobo looks more suited to playing as a number 10 – something Dolly hasn't done regularly in his career to a high level – so it's a toss-up between Saile and Dolly for the right winger role. When the Westbury-born winger was playing his best football for Chiefs, it was when Njabulo Blom was behind him at right back under Baxter. Dolly was playing almost as a specialist "inside right", taking up position in the half-space whilst Blom overlapped with great energy. Many of the assists from Dolly were slide rule passes or crosses from that inside pocket for runners. Reeve Frosler hasn't really built the same understanding with Dolly. It does feel like Dolly has not really fulfilled his potential. He has arguably only had one truly top-class season in his whole career and to be sitting on 23 Bafana Bafana caps at the age of 31 is a real let-down for his talent levels. When we looked at his form in his first year, he raced to seven league goals in 20 league matches, a best-ever scoring return in his career. He was setting up goals regularly at that stage with five assists and he was an active dribbler and was creating the most chances in the whole PSL, along with Khama Billiat, Deon Hotto and Junior Mendieta. All of that was pretty impressive considering his initial weight issues which Baxter spoke about. Right now, he also looks a bit too heavy in terms of muscle and body fat.
Billiat bullet dodged – a repeat
The situation right now is not dissimilar to that which the Naturena-based side faced in June with Billiat. The Zimbabwean was said to be earning around R10 million per annum and media reports suggested that he was offered a significant wage reduction to remain. Billiat decided to go AWOL and not accept the proposed contract. Considering his under-performance for an extended period, it was arguably a blessing in disguise for Chiefs that he didn't agree terms. At least Amakhosi took a stand and didn't offer him the same salary. Could they follow the same route with Dolly? It would be insane to renew his contract for the same salary considering the lack of ROI (Return on Investment) they've received for the approximately R36 million spent on Dolly's salary package so far.
Renewal, Release Or Regret?
The move to bring Dolly to the club has probably not really worked. Although we called him a successful signing in a recent Soccer Laduma feature assessing Chiefs' hit rate in the transfer market, that didn't take into account his salary or whether he should be given a new deal at the same price point. Since signing the former Mamelodi Sundowns star, Amakhosi have not ended their trophy drought, have seen several early cup exits and it's become clear that one big-name player can't reverse a malaise heading for a decade in length. It could be a mistake to release Dolly, only time will tell. However, it would certainly be unwise to hand him a contract at the current earning level.
If both parties come to the negotiation table with a common sense approach, perhaps Dolly could renew for a year on R7 million or R8 million per season. Even then, this is only worthwhile if he is seen as a 100% starter by whoever the coach is, and that tactician intends to build his tactics and style around the Westbury-born playmaker. On paper, he is still Chiefs' best player. Yet we haven't seen him at his very best since April 2022. Says a lot!
