Nakamba’s Luton Town relegated

WARRIORS midfielder, Marvelous Nakamba will be playing Championship football next season after his Luton Town outfit was relegated on the final day of the English Premier League on Sunday.

The 30-year-old, who featured 14 times in all competitions at the start of the campaign, has been out ever since the 2-1 English Premier League defeat to Manchester City on December 10, suffering a serious knee injury in training, which required an operation.
His recovery has been slow.

During his absence, Luton manager Rob Edwards has constantly lamented the gap left by Nakamba in the team after his injury.
Nakamba and team captain Tom Lockyer, missed most of the games and Edwards feels injuries are part of the reason why they got relegated.
“We did our all. There are reasons for it and I think in the end we were just a little bit thin. We missed him (Lockyer) and we missed a number of players as well. The job almost became impossible.

“When you have eight, nine, 10, 12, 13 players missing, it became too much. I understand why we were the favourites to go down and ultimately people were right.”

Edwards expects some changes in the off-season but wants to keep the squad together ahead of next season’s promotion push.
“We have no financial worries at all, so we don’t have to sell anybody,” he said. “It’s inevitable there will be change that happens. It has to be right for us, first of all.”

Nakamba will miss the Warriors next World Cup Qualifiers next month.Zimbabwe has no Fifa-approved international match venue, and the national football team is forced to host its matches in neighbouring countries.

The Warriors open their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign against Lesotho on June 7 before playing South Africa on June 11 at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein.Zimbabwe, who are looking to appoint a coach, are in Group C with South Africa, Benin, Lesotho, Nigeria and Rwanda.The finals will be staged in the United States of America, Mexico and Canada in 2026.—@innocentskizoe