News / National
Zimbabwean teen signs for English Premier League
18 Sep 2023 at 16:02hrs | Views
English Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers have signed 19-year-old Zimbabwean midfielder Tawanda Chirewa from Championship club Ipswich Town.
He will initially play for Wolverhampton's Under 21s for the 2023/24 season.
Chirewa made his senior debut for Ipswich in November 2019, appearing as a second half substitute against Colchester United in an EFL Trophy group stage fixture. In the process, he became the second youngest player to feature for the Tractor Boys, behind Connor Wickham, aged just 16 years and 31 days old.
In July 2020, Chirewa signed a two-year scholarship at Portman Road and was then rewarded with a first professional contract four months later.
Academy manager for football, Jon Hunter-Barrett, has explained how Chirewa has been on Wolverhampton's radar for some time and said: "It's one that we're delighted to get over the line. We've been watching Tawanda for a while now, since the age of 16, and monitoring his progress before picking the right opportunity to approach and get him across for his services.
"His key qualities are his handling of the ball in tight areas and an ability to get the team up the pitch to create and score from deep areas.
"As always, with one of our key strategies of looking at loan opportunities for our players at the right time, the departures of Harvey (Griffiths) and Alfie (Pond) and steady progression of one or two others into the first-team squad, it was important we strengthened our under-21s to ensure they have the ability to compete throughout the season."
Head of UK academy recruitment, Harry Hooman, added: "Tawanda is someone we have liked and monitored for a long time, dating back to when he was an under-16. Although nothing happened at the time, we continued to monitor his development closely over the last few seasons.
"He is an athletic, talented player with the ability to score and create goals. He wants to get on the ball and is not afraid to take responsibility and take risks to make things happen.
"We feel he has the attributes and potential to do well for us both in the short and long-term. This is a fresh challenge for him and we are excited to see him kick on again with us."
He will initially play for Wolverhampton's Under 21s for the 2023/24 season.
Chirewa made his senior debut for Ipswich in November 2019, appearing as a second half substitute against Colchester United in an EFL Trophy group stage fixture. In the process, he became the second youngest player to feature for the Tractor Boys, behind Connor Wickham, aged just 16 years and 31 days old.
In July 2020, Chirewa signed a two-year scholarship at Portman Road and was then rewarded with a first professional contract four months later.
Academy manager for football, Jon Hunter-Barrett, has explained how Chirewa has been on Wolverhampton's radar for some time and said: "It's one that we're delighted to get over the line. We've been watching Tawanda for a while now, since the age of 16, and monitoring his progress before picking the right opportunity to approach and get him across for his services.
"As always, with one of our key strategies of looking at loan opportunities for our players at the right time, the departures of Harvey (Griffiths) and Alfie (Pond) and steady progression of one or two others into the first-team squad, it was important we strengthened our under-21s to ensure they have the ability to compete throughout the season."
Head of UK academy recruitment, Harry Hooman, added: "Tawanda is someone we have liked and monitored for a long time, dating back to when he was an under-16. Although nothing happened at the time, we continued to monitor his development closely over the last few seasons.
"He is an athletic, talented player with the ability to score and create goals. He wants to get on the ball and is not afraid to take responsibility and take risks to make things happen.
"We feel he has the attributes and potential to do well for us both in the short and long-term. This is a fresh challenge for him and we are excited to see him kick on again with us."
Source - zimlive
