Zimbabwean starlet signs first pro contract in England

Zimbabwe teenage football sensation, Tristan Nydam, who has been making waves in England, made a huge leap in his fledgling career after signing his first professional contract with English side Ipswich Town last week.

The championship side moved swiftly to offer Nydam his first professional contract on Monday, just a day after he had turned 17, which made him eligible to put pen to paper on pro terms, amid interest from a number of rival teams.

Nydam, who was born in Zimbabwe and raised in Colchester, England reportedly, agreed to a two-year contract — the longest deal permitted for a 17-year-old.

"@Official_ITFC are delighted to confirm that @TNydam [Tristan Nydam] has today signed a professional contract at Portman Road," the club announced on their official Twitter account on Tuesday.

Nydam, the latest football starlet to emerge from Zimbabwe's growing Diaspora community, was born in Harare on November 6 1999 and enrolled for primary school education in the country before relocating with his mother to stay in England at the age of 10.

The Zimbabwean teenager, who is also eligible to represent England, has shone in the youth ranks at Ipswich Town since joining the club's academy as a schoolboy in July 2008.

He is already being wooed by English football authorities to embark on a career that will see him playing for the English senior national team.

The box-to-box midfielder who was on standby for the England U17s squad for the European Championships in June, came on as a substitute for the Ipswich Town first team in a friendly at Cambridge in summer, but is yet to be included in a competitive senior 18.

Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy recently touted the Zimbabwean midfielder to be a future star.

"Tristan Nydam, he's a really good player. He's the one that's stood out for us," McCarthy told the Independent Ipswich Town website.

"They're generally miles off the first team at that age group, certainly coming in. I see them every day, because we're all in the same building and on a lot of occasions they train."