STARLET RETURNS HOME AMID SCRAMBLE FOR UK-BASED STARS

1605-1-1-BACK PAGE 17 MAY 2017Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
HIGHLY-RATED teenage midfielder Trystan Nydam is expected home on Friday, fuelling speculation of a possible dance in the colours of his motherland, with the rising Ipswich Town star’s visit coinciding with the Warriors management’s scramble for Zimbabwean footballers dotted around the world.

The talented 18-year-old box-to-box midfielder, who was born in this country but left to settle in England with his mother just after the turn of the millennium when he was a primary schoolboy, has played for the England Under-18 national team but remains eligible to play for the Warriors.

The Herald understands Nydam is interested in playing for Zimbabwe one day, should he gets the chance, and — for some time now — has been wondering why he hasn’t been getting attention from his motherland to play for the Young Warriors in the Under-17 and even the Under-20 categories.

Although Nydam, who started his primary education in this country, is coming back home on a private week-long visit, the timing of his visit, when the Warriors’ management have been on an aggressive drive to try and get as many talented Zimbabwean footballers, who are dotted around the world, to play for the senior national team.

Warriors caretaker coach Norman Mapeza has given team manager Wellington Mpandare the green light to not only compile a database of Zimbabwean footballers around the world, eligible to play for the national team, but also to contact them and discuss the possibility of them turning out for this country.

Mpandare has been busy, in the past three weeks, pursuing that assignment and The Herald can reveal today that he has already held lengthy discussions with Burnley defender Tendayi Darikwa who is prepared to come home and fight for his place in the Warriors’ team that starts its 2019 Nations Cup qualifiers next month.

The Warriors’ team manager has also been discussing with representatives of Everton defender Brendan Galloway, who has played for the England Under-21 side, to consider pledging his international football future to the Warriors.

Macauley Bonne, the 21-year-old Colchester United forward who has played an international game for this country after featuring in a friendly against Morocco on November 16, 2014, in which he scored, is also ready to play for the Warriors.

“The interest among the players is very high and there are some from the United States and others from Germany who have told the Warriors team management that they are interested in playing for the Warriors and ready to come here,’’ sources said.

“Even though a lot of these boys have never been to Zimbabwe, they are desperate to play for the country because they feel it is their home and they can also make a big difference in the team.

“We might not see many of them for the Liberia game because time appears to be against us but, for the other AFCON games, there is likely to be a number of them in the team which Mapeza believes needs to be refreshed with new blood and the interim coach feels those who play in Europe offer something different and should be given a chance.

“There is no doubt that we are in a very tough group and we need to understand that, qualifying ahead of the DRC and Congo-Brazzaville is not like qualifying ahead of Swaziland and Malawi and a Guinea side that was out-of-sorts in that campaign because of issues related to Ebola in their homeland.

‘’The coach believes that even though who might, not necessarily make the team right now but have potential for the future, should be asked to come and mix with the boys and develop bonds with the senior players.’’

In January, Darikwa told the Lancashire Telegraph he was closely following Zimbabwe’s AFCON campaign in Gabon with pride and admitted that the “the door is open’’ for him to represent the team in the future. “It’s been a while since they’ve qualified, I think the last time they were there was 2004 and 2006,” said Darikwa.

“There’s a few European-based players and a lot of them play in the South African league. I’ve done a bit of research on them and they look good to be honest. After the game (against Algeria) I was very impressed with them. “It’s great for them to be there.”

While Darikwa has never been here, Nydam was born here and arrives home on Friday, for a week-long visit, having graduated into the Ipswich Town first team and being named the best player in the club’s academy this season at the team’s recent end-of-season awards ceremony.

But, even as he soaked in the accolades, in his hour of triumph, there was no escaping the scrutiny he is getting from Zimbabweans with Mistry Chipere using Twitter to ask him, “what about your 12 million-plus crazy fans TN (Trystan Nydam) back home, are we going to see you represent Zim or we have lost you?’’

Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy singled Nydam as a future star.

“Tristan Nydam, he’s a really good player. He’s the one that’s stood out for us,” McCarthy told the Independent Ipswich Town website.

Nydam played for the same Ipswich Town academy side as another Zimbabwean, Kundai Benyu, who last week made headlines amid revelations English Premiership giants Tottenham Hotspur were angling to sign him. Benyu was loaned out to Aldershot Town after a fall-out with McCarthy and appears set to leave Ipswich Town with Scotting champions Glasgow Celtic also joining the race to sign him.

Spurs even invited Benyu to join their next generation series squad in a tour of the Netherlands last year.

Like Nydam, the 19-year-old Benyu is a box-to-box midfielder.

Journalist Danny Owen, writing for the English digital news platform HITC, argued recently that Benyu ‘’should choose Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic over Tottenham Hotspur.

“With manager Mauricio Pochettino renowned for improving young players, turning the likes of Harry Kane, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker, Eric Dier and Dele Alli (below) in first-choice England internationals, you could see why Spurs would appeal to Benyu,’’ Owen argued in his report.

“Though Villa and Celtic could also be enticing destinations. Villa boss Steve Bruce is building for the future in the Championship by paying close interest to the club’s young talents.

“And Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is also renowned for giving youth a chance. He even gave 18-year-old duo Anthony Ralston and Michael Johnstone their first-team debuts at the weekend. Furthermore, Benyu is likely to find opportunities easier to come by in the Scottish Premiership while the set up should not prove too daunting for a player of his quality

“Therefore, Benyu is almost spoiled for choice — but perhaps Celtic would be the most sensible destination.’’

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