eBusiness Weekly
Chipo Sabeta
Zimbabwe International Marvelous Nakamba, who completed his move to Aston Villa last week in England from Belgium, is set to earn weekly wages around £55 000 (US$ 66 760).
Villa marked their Premier League return after three years by spending £100 million-plus on 12 new players and the Zimbabwe star midfielder signed a five-year-deal for a reported fee of about £11 million.
He is up for his debut in Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspurs in London this weekend.
Upon his arrival, coach Dean Smith said: “Marvelous fits the criteria of the type of player we were looking for. He is very mobile, is very good in possession and will fit in with our style of play.”
The Bulawayo-born star is also set to rub shoulders with some of the world’s finest players in the best football leagues.
The move makes him the fourth Zimbabwean to play in the English Premiership after Bruce Grobbelaar, Peter Ndlovu and Benjani Mwaruwari.
“It’s like a dream, I am glad that I am living it. I wasn’t settled for the past months due to contract issues because I wanted to move from Brugge. There were offers but the club wasn’t willing to let me go. A number of clubs, even in France were interested. PSG also made an inquiry but that’s water under the bridge. It’s time to focus here. I am happy to be playing in the best league and I will try my best to help my team. I rarely struggle to adapt to new teams and I am keen to make an instant impact and help my club to achieve good results,” the Warriors star said.
After joining Bantu Rovers in 2010 under Methembe Ndlovu, Nakamba made his Castle Lager Premier Soccer League debut at the age of 16.
He then joined France Ligue One side FC Nancy in December 2012, were he was assigned to the team’s reserve side.
In 2014, Nakamba was promoted to play for the senior side.
His profile rose the same year and he signed for Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem.
In Netherlands, Nakamba helped Vitesse to their first league title in their 125-year history before moving to Club Brugge. He arrived at Brugge as the player with the highest number of ball recoveries in the Eredivisie.
Again, the former Bantu Rovers midfielder did not take time to establish himself at Club Brugge and he was instrumental in the 2018 league title for the Belgium side.
Aston Villa fact file
2018-19 finish: 5th in Championship — promoted via the play-offs
FA Cup: Third round
Carabao Cup: Second round
Players in: Wesley (Club Bruges, £22m*), Tyrone Mings (Bournemouth, £20m), Matt Targett (Southampton, £15m*), Ezri Konsa (Brentford, £12m*), Bjorn Engels (Stade Reims, £9m*), Trezeguet (Kasimpasa, £8,75m), Tom Heaton (Burnley, £8m), Anwar El Ghazi (Lille, £8m*), Jota (Birmingham City, £4m*), Kortney Hause (Wolves, £3m*), Douglas Luiz (Manchester City, £15m*), Marvelous Nakamba (Club Bruges, undisclosed).
Players out: Gary Gardner (Birmingham, undisclosed), Tommy Elphick (Huddersfield, free), Matija Sarkic (Livingston, loan), Albert Adomah (Nottingham Forest, released), Mark Bunn (released), Ritchie de Laet (released), Alan Hutton (released), Mile Jedinak (released), Ross McCormack (released), Micah Richards (released), Glenn Whelan (released), Rushian Hepburn-Murphy (Tranmere, loan), Andre Green (Preston, loan), Jake Doyle-Hales (Cheltenham, loan), Jordan Layden (Swindon, free).
