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Innocent Kurira , [email protected]

WARRIORS prospect Tawanda Chirewa has described his English Premier League debut as a proud moment for him and his family while also stating he has a lot to work on to improve his game.

Chirewa (20) made his full debut in Wolverhampton’s 2-0 loss to Arsenal on Saturday. The forward was substituted deep into the second half but he had already given a good account of himself.

Born to Zimbabwean parents in England, Chirewa has made it public that he is open to playing for the Warriors.

Speaking to the club’s media after his debut, Chirewa said he was surprised to learn he was in the starting line up of the big game.

“It’s a proud moment for my family and one I’ll always remember in my career. Obviously, the result kind of puts a bit of sadness to it, but we move on. I found out on Friday, so I had 24 hours to get myself in the right mindset, but even when I’m on the bench, I try to bring the right mindset to play. It was a little surprise, but I was more focused on trying to do what I can do and support the team to try and get a result,” said Chirewa.

Chirewa says he enjoyed every moment on the pitch.

“I loved it, I loved every moment of being out there. Playing against the best players in the world is where I want to be, and I’m trying to reach those levels. It’s a good start for me to play against them and see a lot of things to improve on. I’m nowhere near that level, but I’m working on it every day, I’m trying to get as good as them, so it was good to see them in the flesh against me,” said Chirewa.

“It’s a lot of different stuff. It’s obviously a big jump from 21s to first-team, but I felt I was ready in my mind. It was about me going on the pitch and showing everyone that I was ready. There’s a lot of things I can work on, when I watch it back tonight, and see what I can really improve on, but I think it was a decent start.”

Wolves coach Gary O’Neil was left impressed with Chirewa’s performance.

“That was another progression tonight, it was a fantastic performance by Hugo (Bueno), and Tawanda’s incredible full debut against a very good side, Tommy Doyle another good performance, Santi Bueno another good performance, so although I’m sure all the Wolves fans, myself and the other players would love to have everyone else available, we would love to have our strongest squad, be flying, playing free-flowing football and pushing for the places above us, it’s not that at the moment,” said O’Neil after the match.

Although we were missing key players, we had plenty of energy and legs available to us in Bouba (Traore), Joao (Gomes) and Tawanda (Chirewa) and I thought we could use their energy to our advantage and we tried to.”

Chirewa’s debut comes just a month after fellow countryman and teammate Leon Chiwome made his first start for the senior team.

Unfortunately, Chiwome has been ruled out for the rest of the season owing to injury.

Before joining Wolves, at 16 years and 31 days, Chirewa became Ipswich Town’s second youngest first-team player when he made his debut in the EFL Trophy tie at Colchester in November 2019.

He signed his first professional contract with Ipswich Town in November 2020 when he was aged 17. – @innocentskizoe