He’s the softly spoken midfielder with the tenacity of a warrior who’ll fight, run, kick and charge down every single ball.
Marvelous Nakamba looks set to make his long-awaited Aston Villa debut this evening against Crewe Alexandria in the EFL Cup – and he cannot wait.
The £10.8million Club Brugge capture has been itching to make his claret and blue bow having been working hard behind the scenes at Bodymoor Heath to improve his fitness after picking up an injury in Zimbabwe’s opening match against Egypt at AFCON two months ago.
Nakamba, 25, has since converted a nation of more than 17 million people to tune into watching Aston Villa from now on and the talented midfielder follows Zimbabwe great and ex-Pompey and Man City striker Benjani as the country’s latest Premier League star.
Here’s a run down of where Nakamba fits into Villa and what supporters can expect from the man with the lion-like heart.
What type of player is Nakamba?
A very good orthodox box-to-box midfielder,Left footed, strong in tackles and very dominant in the midfield battles, excellent touch too. Has been getting better and better and quite a disciplined fellow.
The all-action Nakamba is heavily reliant on his left foot and is very much Fabian Delph-like in his approach: combative, likes to drive forward with the ball, prefers playing the easy pass and is incredibly good in centre-of-the-park duels, often winning the ball. Nakamba is quick, too, which helps him motor away from danger areas and away from the opposition.
The Premier League will suit Nakamba’s fast and frenetic style down to a T while the Villa Park faithful will absolutely love his admirable everything-on-the-line nature. Nakamba, himself, likes nothing more than to be spurred on by the crowd who applaud his efforts.
Nakamba has scored just twice in the 111 games he’s started during his five-year professional career to date so don’t expect a John McGinn or Conor Hourihane-like goals return, the Zimbabwean prefers to let other people do the damage so he’ll be a joy for your Jack Grealishs, Jotas and Wesleys, the latter a really close friend having played together at Brugge for the past two years.
