Online Reporter
ZIMBABWE Warriors vice-captain and Wolves midfielder Marshall Munetsi is poised to join Paris FC on loan until the end of the season.
The 29-year-old has been allowed to leave the English Premier League strugglers by boss Rob Edwards, although there is no option for the Ligue 1 side to buy him.
Edwards and the club have opted to let Munetsi go as he does not fit well enough into the head coach’s system and his playing time would have been limited with the emergence of Mateus Mane.
Allowing him to move on loan also enables the midfielder to maintain his value and gives Wolves a better option to sell him at the right time, most likely in the summer, as they brace themselves for relegation to the Championship with the side bottom of the Premier League after managing just one win so far.
The Zimbabwean international has started just once under Edwards, the 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in November – the manager’s first game in charge.
Munetsi, who was forced out of the Warriors Africa Cup of Nations show in Morocco owing to a calf injury sustained in a December 3 league clash against Nottingham Forest, started 12 times in the second half of last season under Vitor Pereira to help Wolves finish 16th.
He moved to Molineux for £16 million from Stade de Reims last February and has made 31 appearances, scoring four goals, with his last strike coming in October’s 3-2 defeat to Burnley.
Paris FC are 15th in Ligue 1 but they beat neighbours Paris St-Germain 1-0 in the Coupe de France on Monday.
Chirewa vows to fight for his place
Munetsi’s fellow Zimbabwean Tawanda Chirewa is, however staying put and is determined to earn his spot in Edwards’ side after experiencing playing for his country at the first major football tournament of his career.
The young forward featured in all three of Zimbabwe’s group games at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco but was unable to help his team reach the knockout stages.
Zimbabwe finished bottom of Group B that also included Angola, Egypt and South Africa with the Warriors managing one point via a draw with the Palancas Negras in their second match.
Chirewa had also regularly featured for the Warriors in both the AFCON and World Cup qualification campaigns when they were still under the guidance of German coach Michael Nees.
STAYING PUT: Tawanda Chirewa is determined to fight for his place.
Upon his return from the competition in Morocco, he has featured in all three of Wolves’ matchday squads and even came off the bench to make his second senior appearance of the season – and 10th in total – in the Old Gold’s first English Premier League win of the season against West Ham United (3-0), but Chirewa is fully focused on showing Edwards he has what it takes to be part of the team during the second half of the campaign.
He also spoke about his football upbringing
“Football played a massive role in my childhood. That was kind of the main thing in my life, watching football with my dad, playing football in the park with my friends, so it played a massive role in my childhood, and I didn’t know anything else.
“It’s what I’m used to. It’s all I’ve known. Travelling from home to Ipswich was kind of first time that I experienced it and started the journey with my family.
“Then going there and seeing different cultures and trying to adapt and adjust and fit in was kind of the main thing I was doing at a young age. I was just trying to show what I could do and just enjoy football, so this life is all I’ve known.”
Belief in his capabilities
“I’ve always had a belief that I could do it. That’s what I wanted to do, that’s what I knew I could do. I don’t really know when the earliest moment was where I thought this is something I could do. I’ve just always had the belief.
“I’ve never had a moment where I thought, ‘OK, I’m good enough now’. I’ve always thought I was quite confident in my ability, so I kind of always believed in myself. But when I made my debut, I was 16, I was still in school, and that’s when I thought, ‘I’m decent’.”
Chirewa is also determined to continue his football journey at Wolves.
“Coming to Wolves was the next step. At that time in my life, I was looking at what would be the next step and what I could do to play Premier League football – or try to play Premier League football.
“Ipswich were in League One at the time, and I was near the first-team at a young age, but I wasn’t playing, so I wanted to try and see how good I am compared to the best players in the world and the best leagues, so as soon as my agent told me about Wolves, I said, ‘Let’s go’.
“I wanted to go and test myself and see if I could get myself in that first-team. That was the goal, and as soon as I got here, that was the aim. I didn’t have much time to settle in, I was just focused on how I could get myself in front of the gaffer, which at the time was Gary O’Neil. That was the goal.”
The Warriors international still reflects on his English Premier League bow in January 2024, which he rates as one of the key moments of his career.
“Making my debut was a good achievement. I probably reflect on it more now, because at the time, it wasn’t like I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve just done this’. I was just thinking about how I can now take that next step.
“But I’m at the point in my career right now where I can think about the moments and think about how I’ve done well to be where I am.
“But I try not to reflect on it too much, maybe at the end of my career I’ll think, ‘Wow, I played Premier League football at a young age, and I broke into the first team quite quickly when I came here’.”
“Right now, I’m trying to play. That’s the aim. I want to try and get in this team and help this team to stay in the league – however I can do it.
“Whether it’s playing, whether it’s training, however I can help this team stay in this division, that’s all I’m thinking about right now.” – wolves.co.uk/Zimpapers Sports Hub/BBC Sport
