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Eddie Chikamhi-Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE international Marshall Munetsi has come under the radar of a number of English football clubs for the second time in six months, as the midfielder’s stock continues to rise in France where he is starring for Stade de Reims.
Munetsi is reportedly under surveillance from English Premier League side Bournemouth, who are home to another Zimbabwean, Jordan Zemura.
The French Football Mercato revealed yesterday that English Championship sides Watford and Burnley are also keeping a close eye on the 26-year-old midfielder.
Munetsi has been in the books of Reims since 2019 when he joined the French Ligue 1 side from South Africa’s Orlando Pirates.
He has performed consistently for the French club, playing both in midfield and sometimes in defence.
Munetsi has played 76 games since he joined Reims and scored seven goals. Three of the goals came this season, including an all-important game-winning strike against relegation-battlers Ajaccio earlier this month. He also has an assist to his name this season.
The Warriors midfielder is one of Ligue 1’s most underrated holding midfielders.
His stock has risen of late, as Reims’ unbeaten streak under 30-year-old Belgian manager William Still continues, since his appointment last October following Óscar García’s dismissal.
Reims have not lost a game in 11 French Ligue 1 games under the new manager. Munetsi missed only three of those games, first with a yellow card suspension against Troyes and then was injured when Reims played against AJ Auxerre and Brest.
Reims are currently sitting in 11th place in the Ligue 1 race with 25 points from 19 games. Overall, Munetsi has started 14 times this year and twice came in as a substitute, to make it 16 appearances.
The Zimbabwean is currently under contract until 2026 and is represented by the Wasserman agency, who have extensive contacts in England.
The reported interests come barely six months after his French club had turned down offers from English Premiership club Brighton and Hove.
The Daily Mail of England reported last year that the EPL club wanted Munetsi, who was valued at around £7million then, as a possible replacement for Yves Bissouma following the Malian player’s move to another English club, Tottenham Hotspur.
“The Zimbabwe international, who turned 26 on Wednesday, has been impressing in the French league where his statistics have compared favourably with some of the best midfielders in the country.
“Munetsi’s figures, notably on interceptions and defensive duels won in game, put him ahead of the likes of Aurelien Tchouameni who joined Real Madrid from Monaco earlier this month and Boubacar Kamara who left Marseille for Aston Villa.
“Brighton’s analysts are understood to have reported favourably along with scouts and he is under consideration as they look to fill the void left by Yves Bissouma’s departure to Tottenham,” reported the publication then.
However, Reims president Jean-Pierre Caillot made it clear that the midfielder was not for sale and the 26-year-old extended his stay with Les Rouges et Blanc last summer, tying down to a contract due to expire in 2026.
The Reims stalwart is valued at around €5m by football website, Transfermarket.
Munetsi joined the French Ligue 1 side in 2019 from Orlando Pirates. His contract was expiring in 2024 before he recently extended it by a further two years.
Munetsi began his football career at Ali Sundowns Academy in Mabvuku. He was later nurtured by Harare-based Friendly Academy. Locally, he featured for the now-defunct Blue Rangers in the Zimbabwe top-flight as a mere teenager.
He then made his breakthrough when he signed for South African side FC Cape Town in 2015 and the following year was snapped up by Soweto giants, Orlando Pirates, who initially loaned him to fellow Supa Disk side, Baroka. From Pirates, he joined Reims in 2019.
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