Chronicle Editor
Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
LIVERPOOL midfielder Isaac Mabaya may have represented England at Under-18 level but remains a prospect for the Zimbabwe Warriors.
Zimbabwe’s wish to have the player don the Warriors jersey was shown by his call-up to the squad for World Cup qualifiers late last year.
Though the midfielder did not turn up for duty, there is still hope he will choose to play for Zimbabwe.
Mabaya (18) was born in Preston, England to Zimbabwean parents.
He signed his first professional contract with Liverpool in September 2021.
He first attended the Academy at the age of six and broke into the Reds’ Under-18s side as an Under-16 player in the 2020-21 season.
Mabaya, who can play either in midfield or at right-back, played for the senior team in pre-season during July 2022 when he was included in the squad for the Asia tour and training camp in Austria.
Injury limited his game time and progress in the 2022-23 campaign but he penned fresh terms with the club in the final weeks of the season.
He made the first big step towards making his senior Liverpool debut after being named in the match-day squad in January for the FA Cup third-round tie against Shrewsbury in 2022.
Mabaya is joined at Liverpool by Trey Nyoni who is an attacking midfielder who signed for Liverpool FC from Leicester City in September 2023.
He started Academy life with the Under-18s and on his home debut in Kirkby netted a dramatic, stoppage-time winner in the derby against Everton.
Nyoni spent 10 years at Leicester’s academy before the Reds swooped to sign him.
An England Under-16 international, he scored and assisted on his debut against Italy.
It is such talent that has been through development and been capped at a better football-playing country that Zimbabwe needs for the future. —-@innocentskizoe
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