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The 21-year-old midfielder, who was born in Nottingham, feels his future is with England’s Three Lions instead of Zimbabwe, the country where his parents came from to settle in England.
Darikwa doesn’t want to renounce his British citizenship and, with dual citizenship outlawed in this country, the young player has resisted calls for him to consider a future with the Warriors.
Phillip Zulu, a Zimbabwean football coach who is currently based in Leeds, England, yesterday said he tried to convince Darikwa to turn out for the Warriors but without much success.
“I talked a lot with Tendayi about playing for Zimbabwe and failed because of dual citizenship,” said Zulu, who has helped in grooming and nurturing a number of young Zimbabwean players, who have links with this country, in the UK.
Darikwa is currently being tracked by English Premiership rivals Liverpool and Everton with the former side reportedly being close to sign a two million-pound deal for the player with his English League Two club side Chesterfield.
In fact, according to reports from England yesterday, Chesterfield chief executive, Chris Turner, expressed that the club was ready to initiate talks with the Anfield side for the transfer of the midfield talent, Darikwa.
Liverpool are reported to offer a £2 million bid for the player.
Darikwa was awarded the League Two Young Player of the Month award for December, hinting at the prowess of the 21-year-old.
Everton have also sent scouts to watch the midfielder alongside Arsenal.
Talking about Darikwa, Turner said: “Tendayi is a fantastic talent and we would never stand in the way of a player from moving to a Premier League club.”
And The Daily Star reported on Thursday that both Liverpool and Everton are in a battle to sign Chesterfield midfield sensation Darikwa.
Nottingham-born Darikwa already carries a £2m rating after 27 starts for the Spireites.
The Daily Star said he is being tracked by a host of English Premier League sides, but the Mersey giants are front-runners for his signature.
Anfield boss Brendan Rodgers and Goodison chief David Moyes have had Darikwa watched on a weekly basis over the past few months.
Darikwa recently signed a new three-year deal with the League Two outfit Chesterfield.
But the Derbyshire minnows are resigned to losing their prize asset to the English top flight.
Chesterfield boss Paul Cook said: “Tendayi is already a very good footballer. He is going to have a very good career.”
But it is Darikwa’s decision to turn his back on Zimbabwe that should come as a big disappointment for the local soccer followers who were hoping to see him in the Warriors colours in the future.
In fact, local fans were hoping that new Zimbabwe coach Klaus Pagels would use the player’s parentage to enlist him for his squad ahead of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
Darikwa joined Chesterfield as a right-back after leaving school at 16 and made his Football League debut last February at Notts County, a ground just down the road from where he still lives with his mother in West Bridgford.
In late September, Tommy Wright — now assistant to current Chesterfield boss Cook but back then running the first team following the departure of John Sheridan — pushed him into an attacking position for the trip to Northampton.
It was Darikwa’s first league start.
“There was nothing particularly tactical about the decision,” Wright told BBC Sport then.
“We had a few injuries and I knew he would work hard. Since then he has flourished. What has happened to him over the last six months is massive. It has got to the point where you can see other teams worrying about how to stop him.”
Cook took over as manager in late October and shortly afterwards gave Darikwa a new three-year deal.
“I don’t think he is very good,” deadpanned the affable Cook when asked what he thought of Darikwa. “I think everyone should leave him alone. I think he is going backwards at the minute.”
But in truth he readily acknowledges that in a short space of time Darikwa, who usually plays on the right side of an attacking trio behind a lone striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation, has become one of his key players.
“He is already a very good footballer and he is going to have a very good career,” said Cook.
“We all want young lads to be in the team but they must be good enough — and he certainly is.”
But unlike Darikwa, another UK-based Zimbabwean player Farai Jordan Hallam recently expressed his interest to turn out for the Warriors.
Hallam was last year playing in Spain for CF Federico Mayo who play in the fifth tier of Spanish football.
The tall 19-year-old centreback has a Zimbabwean mother and a British father but he indicated late last year that he was prepared to renounce his British citizenship inorder for him to play for Zimbabwe.
In fact, the UK is now the home of a number of talented young players who have close links with Zimbabwe through their parents.
One of them is Bradley Pritchard who plays for English Championship side Charlton Athletic and was last year overlooked by former Warriors coach Rahman Gumbo.
England is also the home of promising young midfielder Munyaradzi Mbanje (16) who is due to start his two-year scholarship at former English Premiership side Leeds United in June.
There is also young Mikaeel White who is still at the academy with Barnet.
White’s father, Charlie “Maskiri” White, recently said his son needs just one or two international games for the Under-20s or Under-21s for Zimbabwe “and I can assure you will see what a decent and well developed professional player we may have”.
In fact, Mikaeel White and fellow Zimbabwean Lyle Orange are with Barnet’s Development Programme (Elite) while Tinashe Abrahams, also from Zimbabwe, is with Barnet’s Youth Squad (Scholars).
These boys are all 17-year-olds.
Online Reporter