Chronicle Editor
Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
BORN to Zimbabwean parents in England, Michael Ndiweni remains a prospect for the Zimbabwe senior national team, the Warriors.
The striker, who joined English club Newcastle in 2016, is eligible to play for Zimbabwe. His father coaches youth football in Newcastle. Last week, Ndiweni left Newcastle United to join Scottish topflight club Annan Athletic on loan. Ndiweni will remain in Scotland for the remainder of the campaign.
The loan move will offer the 20-year-old Warriors prospect some senior team experience. Newcastle United Academy director Steve Harper said: “The loan to Annan gives Michael a platform to get regular senior game time and we wish him well for his spell there.”
Ndiweni made his English Premier League debut with Newcastle in November last year, coming from the bench against Chelsea. He also featured in the following matchday squad for their Champions League game away to PSG.
After joining United’s Academy from Newcastle Juniors in 2016, Ndiweni progressed through the Magpies’ youth ranks before signing a first professional contract in the summer of 2022. The teenage striker scored 14 goals in 19 matches for Newcastle’s Under-18 squad last term as well as netting in the Under-21s’ Papa John’s Trophy fixture away at League Two outfit Mansfield Town.
The Throckley-born forward, who studied at St Cuthberts High School, netted three goals during the Under-18s’ passage to the fifth round of last season’s FA Youth Cup and has trained with Newcastle’s first-team squad on a handful of occasions.
Michael made his under-21s debut at the tender age of 16 after coming off the bench in a Tyne-Wear derby clash against local rivals Sunderland in October 2020. He made his first-team debut for his boyhood club during the Magpies’ 3-2 pre-season friendly victory against Gateshead in July 2023. — @innocentskizoe
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter