English Championship side Derby County have signed Zimbabwean international Tawanda Chirewa on a season-long loan from Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The 20-year-old attacking midfielder, who can also play as a winger, made his debut for Wolves in January during an FA Cup tie against Brentford. Chirewa was also involved in Wolves’ pre-season tour of the USA last month.
In April, the young Zimbabwean made his first Premier League start for Wolves in a 2-0 defeat against Arsenal.
Wolves’ head of professional football development, Matt Jackson, believes the pressure of playing regularly for a big club like Derby in the Championship will benefit Chirewa’s development as a player. Said Jackson:
Tawanda’s made great progress since he joined us from Ipswich, being a part of that first team group. He’s grown up quickly and matured to have the quality to cope there, and now we’ll see if he can affect league football.
We had a few inquiries for him, but we were looking for specific things. We certainly like the pressure of the Championship. We like the pressure of a big club, which you get at Derby.
We really like the manager as well, he had ‘Gilo’ [Ryan Giles] before at Rotherham and we liked the way he looked after a young player there.
So, it fits for Tawanda to go back under that tutelage, and we just think it’s a place he can go and express himself and get a lot of game time.
It’s tough to play for our first team here, but it’s tough to play for Derby’s first team as well. He’s going to have to really have his wits about him, both in terms of playing style, but also integrating into the squad and being in an environment that’s difficult, with the expectation of a big crowd which really knows its football.
Chirewa made his international debut for Zimbabwe in June, when he was called up by head coach Jairos Tapera to feature in a World Cup qualifying match against Lesotho. Added Jackson:
We expected him to do well because we knew his ability. Great credit to our recruitment team to see that potential. But ultimately, he has to take responsibility for that, and he has done it.
He’s maturing as a person as well as a player, and he’ll relish the opportunity to go out to a big club in Derby to showcase his skills.
Games are so important. We like the exposure they get in the first-team because they see how good they have to be day in, and day out.
It’s different if you just get occasional chances to show the first-team coach what you can do, but he was doing that on a daily basis.
You learn the physical strength that’s required and the discipline you need to bring every single day to training. Hopefully he can now impact the Championship, doing that for Derby.
He’s looking forward to the opportunity. He wanted to get out as quickly as possible. It’s great for him that contract negotiations were very sensible moving forward and great for all parties.
For him, he understands at this stage of his career, playing is all important, and that’s the opportunity he’s now going to take.
Signed from Ipswich Town last summer, Chirewa has made 10 senior appearances for Gary O’Neil’s first-team group, eight of which have come in the Premier League.
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