Bruce Bvuma wants to unseat Itumeleng Khune as Kaizer Chiefs number one goalkeeper

Bruce Bvuma is prepared to be Itumeleng Khune's understudy at Kaizer Chiefs for now but not forever.

Bvuma's path towards earning more game time at Amakhosi will be cleared if Khune's current preferred understudy Brilliant Khuzwayo finds a club to join.

Khuzwayo has already announced he has asked for Amakhosi's blessing to leave to try to find a team where he can play but his exit could depend on him tying down a deal at clubs that have shown interest‚ notably Orlando Pirates.

“Well‚ I can't comment on something that I'm not sure about yet‚" said the 22-year old when asked this week about his prospects at Chiefs improving should Khuzwayo go.

“As a player you always set goals for yourself. So whether he is still there or not does not mean I’m not going to play‚ or something.

“But it is an opportunity for me to get more game time. We set goals for ourselves in terms of doing this and this and this.

“But you never know - we'll see what's going to happen."

Bvuma showed his potential‚ having been promoted in March 2017‚ with two starting games just a month later in a 2-2 draw against SuperSport United and 3-2 defeat to Cape Town City‚ when Khune and Khuzwayo were injured.

He might be disappointed to have conceded five goals‚ but the performances were solid in his only two appearances for Amakhosi.

Time is on Bvuma's side‚ especially as a goalkeeper‚ whose careers last longer but that does not mean he's necessarily happy to bide his time as Khune's understudy.

"I can't really say that. I'm actually champing at the bit to play. There's no-one who doesn't want to play‚" he said.

"It doesn't matter whether you're 16‚ 20 or 25 - you always want to play because that's where you'll express yourself and see yourself and the level that you are at."

Bvuma earned his first Bafana Bafana game-time at the 2017 Cosafa Cup in Rustenburg‚ keeping a clean sheet in a 2-0 win against Botswana.

The Chiefs keeper is back at the Cosafa‚ as part of a squad packed with youthful potential selected by coach Stuart Baxter‚ who open their tournament in their quarterfinal against Madagascar‚ winners of Group A‚ at New Peter Mokaba Stadium on Sunday.

* Marc Strydom is in Polokwane as a guest of Cosafa