Bruce backs Musona Knowledge Musona
Knowledge Musona

Knowledge Musona

Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter—
LEGENDARY former Zimbabwe and Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar has waded into the debate surrounding Knowledge Musona’s failure to break into the big European leagues by throwing his weight behind the Warriors talisman whom he described as one of the most talented players of his generation. Grobbelaar also backed the talent emerging from this country and said he believes that Musona is one of the best forwards from Southern Africa at the moment, despite his apparent failure to break into the big European leagues.

The Jungleman, as Grobbelaar is affectionately known, is back in the country for the first time in 11 years and yesterday he gave his appraisal on Musona in an exclusive interview with The Herald. This comes as The Herald last week ignited passionate debate in football circles last week after the newspaper drew parallels between the paths that former TSG Hoffeniheim teammates Roberto Firmino and Musona had travelled since leaving the German club five years ago.

Firmino has become a star at former European champions Liverpool in the highly competitive English Premiership while Musona plays for KV Oostende in the modest Belgian top-flight. There was also a social media storm when comparisons were raised between Musona and Brazilian Firmino. The 27-year-old Musona and Firmino made their breakthroughs in Europe around the same time in 2011 at Bundesliga side TSG Hoffenheim, but curiously their careers have since taken completely different routes.

While Musona appears to have stagnated in the mediocrity of Belgian football at Oostende, Firmino’s stock has phenomenally been rising since he left TSG Hoffenheim and joined Liverpool a few years ago to become a 90-million pound player he is today. Interestingly, Grobbelaar is a Liverpool legend who won the European Cup with the Reds as well as several silverware, including the English championship.

Yesterday, the Jungleman leapt to the defence of Musona and said the fact that the duo’s careers have turned out to be different does not make the former Kaizer Chiefs hitman a bad player. Grobbelaar said if he had his way then he would not hesitate to recommend the Warriors skipper to any of the big European clubs on account of his vast talent. “Knowledge is one of the best talents that I have seen in this part of the world in a long time. There is no doubt the boy is talented.

“But sometimes it’s just not fair to try and compare him with someone else at his level. There are many factors involved. He is good yes but when it comes to those big European moves it also depend on who is handling his career affairs and who is handling Firmino’s?

“You have to ask many questions like does the person have broad contacts in Europe? That discrepancy between the agents can make a huge difference. To me Knowledge is a very good player,” Grobbelaar said. Now based in Canada, Grobbelaar himself made his name playing for Liverpool in the 1090s and has earned the status of club legend.

At the peak of his powers, the Jungleman was one of the players who flew the Zimbabwe flag and raised the profile of Africa with distinguished performances in England and Europe while starring for Liverpool in the 1980s. Grobbelaar, a member of the famed Warriors Dream Team, spent 13 years at Anfield and won the then European Cup (now Champions League) with English soccer giants in 1984 among his career highs.

During the era of the late Reinhard Fabisch’s Dream Team, Zimbabwe also used to have a number of players playing their trade in Europe and these included Peter Ndlovu, Norman Mapeza, Ephraim Chawanda, John Phiri and Henry McKop. Grobbelaar, now 60, said Zimbabwe was still awash with talent and is happy with the current Warriors squad that has the likes of Musona, Marvellous Nakamba, Costa Nhamoinesu, Tinotenda Kadewere and Khama Billiat all making it big at their teams.

Nakamba is playing in Belgium for Club Brugge and has been remotely linked with Liverpool although nothing official has come up while Nhamoinesu is at Czech Republic giants Sparta Prague who are perennial campaigners for a spot in the European Champions League. South Africa-based Khama Billiat had been tipped for big things in his career, but the diminutive midfielder appears set to end his career in the Absa Premiership as opportunities to move to the bigger and more lucrative European stage have been elusive.

Grobbelaar said it was unfair to try and compare his generation of players with the current crop. “But I still think we have a lot of talented players who are playing abroad. So we have the talent, no doubt about it. No two generations are the same, but when I look at it there isn’t much of a big difference between the talent we have now and the Dream Team.

“We have some players making a big impact in South Africa and others are playing in Europe. I can’t really name them all, but it just goes to show how much talent we have here in Zimbabwe when we export players. Probably it’s the European connections that we lack. These are some of the things that I believe we can help our nation with. Personally I have contacts everywhere in Europe. I would not have hesitated to recommend a player to Europe if I had been given the opportunity to work with these guys,” he said.

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