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Blessing Malinganiza

ZIMBABWE International and English Premier League starlet, Tawanda Chirewa will have to wait a bit longer before making his debut for the Warriors after withdrawing from the squad that is set to tour Malawi for the Four Nations tournament next week.

Chirewa, who plies his trade for English Premiership side Wolverhampton Wanderers, got his first senior national team call up from interim coach, Norman Mapeza, for the upcoming tournament to held in Malawi during next week’s international break.

Despite being excited by the call, Chirewa exclusively revealed to Zimpapers Sports Hub that he was not able to come back home for this particular assignment as he needed some time to settle at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

He wants to use the international break to try and convince the coach for longer spells in the remaining 10 matches of the season.

However, the Wolves prodigy has fully committed himself to represent Zimbabwe and will be open to future engagements.

“I just want to make a quick message to the fans and the great people of Zimbabwe and let everyone know that I’m honoured and proud to be called to Zimbabwe and how sad I am to withdraw from the national team camp.

“I am really excited about the call, but I feel that I need to first solidify my place (at Wolves) so that when the next assignment comes, I’ll be an established Premier League player and ready to take us (Zimbabwe) to the World Cup,” said Chirewa.

The attacking midfielder signed for the Wolverhampton Wanderers last September from Ipswich Town. The young Zimbabwean made his debut for Wolves on January 5 in a FA Cup third round fixture against Brentford before making his EPL debut against Brighton & Hove.

And the 20-year-old felt he needed to the opportunity to work and establish himself in the Wolves first team, ahead of the last 10 games of the English Premiership campaign.

Despite regretting the decision to pause his Warriors dance for now, the 20-year-old sensation is looking ahead to be part of the Warriors squad in the near future.

“I am hopeful to be called and represent the Warriors in the attending in the near future and I will be working very hard to take this country back to the levels which I believe it should be,” he said.

The talented winger has big dreams for Zimbabwe, and he feels the Warriors should play at the World Cup and also make a huge impact at the AFCON in the near future.

Chirewa is confident of Zimbabwe competing at the highest level. He is among a group of talented young players who have shown great promise in the English football pyramid and have been earmarked by ZIFA to be integrated into the senior national team.

The other England-based youngsters in the squad called by Mapeza this week include goalkeeper Marley Tavaziva of Brentford, Joey Phuthi of Sheffield Wednesday, Shane Maroodza (Huddersfield Town) and Leicester City’s Tawanda Maswanhise. Zimbabwe have also included experienced diaspora players such as Brendan Galloway (Plymouth Argyle), Jordan Zemura of Italian side Udinese, Macauley Bonne (Cambridge United), Tivonge Rushesha (Reading) and Andy Rinomhota (Rotherham).

“Our team is young, we have got players playing in top leagues and I want to let everyone know that our players and me, especially, I’m hungry and determined to take us to the top and take us to where we deserve and show how great a country we are.”

“I want to let everyone know that I’m hungry and I’m determined to achieve great things for this country and take us to the World Cup and do great things at the AFCON,” said Chirewa.