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Eddie Chikamhi – Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE international football star Marvelous Nakamba says he was honoured to meet Prince William at the Aston Villa training ground on Tuesday.

Prince William, who is a self-confessed Villa fan from his childhood, was the guest of honour at Villa’s Bodymoor Heath Training Ground to open the club’s new high performance centre.

Nakamba, who is expected to be named in the Zimbabwe national team for the upcoming 2022 World Cup qualifiers today, posted on Twitter that he felt honoured to meet in person the Duke of Cambridge.

Prince William, who is second-in-line to the British throne, was seen chatting and laughing with his football heroes.

“It’s truly an honour to meet Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. Thank you for you visit”, Tweeted Nakamba this morning.

Aston Villa said on their website that The Duke of Cambridge was the guest of honour at the official opening of the new High Performance Centre at the Club’s Bodymoor Heath Training Ground, alongside a number of other invited guests and dignitaries.

Welcomed by the Club’s Chairman Nassef Sawiris and the Club’s CEO Christian Purslow, The Duke was given a tour of the new building before hearing more about the Aston Villa Foundation’s Community Outreach and Support programmes, meeting representatives from initiatives like Villa Vision, TeamWork and Villa Kitchen.

The Duke was also introduced to those involved in the antenatal clinics from the Birmingham and Sandwell NHS Trust who made use of facilities at Villa Park during the pandemic.

His Royal Highness then mingled with socially-distanced groups of Aston Villa’s players and management staff who will be making use of the state-of-the-art facility, which has been designed specifically for elite performance.

Villa CEO Christian Purslow said: “Creating a high-performance culture needs the right facilities.

“The mission of the Aston Villa Board since the summer of 2018 has been to bring our performance, strength, conditioning, rehabilitation and sports therapy functions up to 21st-century standards.

“We have created a new High Performance Centre; an environment suited to 21st-century elite sports.

“The High Performance Centre will be used not only by our men’s first team, but our women’s team together with our boys and girls in the Academy, all of whom are based here at Bodymoor Heath.

“This training complex is now one of the finest in UK sport.

“Work is continuing, the creation of multi-media analysis facilities, a mini auditorium, individual player coaching and meeting areas – all these final phases will be complete in time for pre-season training in July 2021.

“Today, Aston Villa has a training ground it can truly be proud of.”