Tawanda Chirewa joins Derby County

By Fortune Mbele | Aug. 27, 2024 | 2 Min read

Chirewa (20) joined Wolves from Ipswich last year.

WARRIORS’ striker Tawanda Chirewa has joined Championship side Derby County on a season’s loan deal from Premier League outfit Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Chirewa (20) joined Wolves from Ipswich last year.

“It’s a brilliant place to be and a brilliant training ground. Everything I’ve seen so far is really good. I was at Watford on Saturday watching the game and while it was a disappointing result, the players worked really hard and could have got a draw,” Chirewa said on Derby County’s website.

“The support of the fans was amazing. I was in the away end and it was loud and fantastic; there wasn’t an empty seat. It wasn’t our day, but hopefully tomorrow against Barrow and Bristol City on Saturday it will be.”

Confirming Chirewa’s departure, Wolves head of professional football development Matt Jackson said: “Tawanda’s made great progress since he joined us from Ipswich, being a part of that first team group. He’s grown up quickly and matured to have the quality to cope there, and now we’ll see if he can affect league football.

“We had a few inquiries for him, but we were looking for specific things. We certainly like the pressure of the Championship. We like the pressure of a big club, which you get at Derby.”

He added: “We really like the manager as well, he had ‘Gilo’ [Ryan Giles] before at Rotherham and we liked the way he looked after a young player there. So, it fits for Tawanda to go back under that tutelage, and we just think it’s a place he can go and express himself and get a lot of game time.

“It’s tough to play for our first-team here, but it’s tough to play for Derby’s first-team as well. He’s going to have his wits about him, in terms of playing style, but also integrating into the squad and being in an environment that's difficult, with the expectation of a big crowd which really knows its football.”