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Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter
NGEZI Platinum Stars goalkeeper Nelson Chadya might not have attained outstanding individual and team achievements had he gone ahead to sign for Dynamos last season.
The agile goalie was on the verge of joining the Glamour Boys at the start of 2022 before his close family members, some members of the Ngezi Platinum management and friends advised him to stay put at the platinum miners.
Chadya dominated headlines as he wanted to put pen to paper and re-unite with coach Tonderai Ndiraya and ex-teammates Keith Murera and Frank Makarati, who had crossed from Mhondoro to Dynamos.
The 26-year-old shot-stopper, who has had successful auditions with the Warriors, was bound to face stiff competition for the Number 1 jersey with Tymon Mvula who had just joined from Hwange, had he signed with the former champions.
Chadya changed his mind, right at the last minute and renewed his contract with Madamburo.
“It’s true that I was almost signing for Dynamos. I really wanted to switch to the Glamour Boys back then,” said Chadya.
“I had spent over six years in Mhondoro winning only the Chibuku Super Cup in 2016. “So I really considered moving to Dynamos. But some close friends and other members of the Ngezi Platinum management sat me down and advised me to stick around in Mhondoro.
“They actually told me that Ngezi Platinim Stars would win the league title in the not-so-distant future. I considered the pros and the cons and decided to stay. After all I really love this team. This is the place I have always called home and they have given me everything that I have right from the name that I have. So it was easy to remain”.
And in the very year that Chadya could have probably played bit-part roles for Dynamos considering Mvula was being hyped a lot, the former Heartly man won the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League’s Best Goal-keeper’s accolade.
He was so good that the Soccer Stars of the Year voting panel could not ignore his exploits and he was one of the regular names on each of the voter’s cast as he also made it to the calender in a year the Mhondoro team finished fourth on the table.
Chadya was also the natural choice for the Goalkeeper of the Year accolade after keeping out 19 clean sheets, two better than his closest rival Wallace Magalane.
And Chadya was in the thick of things as he helped Ngezi Platinum win their maiden Castle Lager Premier Soccer League title this year.
As one of the senior players in Takesure Chiragwi’s team, Chadya had to be more than just a goalkeeper in a year the miners dug deeper to finally wrap up the title after five unsuccessful attempts. Although Chadya was two clean sheets behind winner Ariel Sibanda of Highlanders, he was only two votes short of retaining the league’s Goalkeeper of the Season accolade.
But despite attaining the same number of votes with Simba Bhora striker Tinashe Balakasi in the initial vote with both players 11th on the list, Chadya still found a way to the calendar as he earned more votes when those overseeing the selection casted to break the tie.
He was also rewarded as the Ngezi Platinum Stars best player in the 2022 season and he got the long ser-vice and loyalty awards for both 2022 and 2023.
Chadya’s current contract expires at the end of next year and the team is already in talks with him to extent his stay.
Online Reporter