Zimbabwean teen signs Burnley deal

England born forward, Tinashe Chakwana, has signed his first professional contract with Premier League side, Burnley. Chakwana has been nothing less than phenomenal at the Turf Moor, shining for the club’s youth teams. The 19-year-old was the top scorer for the club’s Under 18 side in the 2016/17 and carried that momentum into the 2017/18 season where he again topped the scoring charts, this time for the Under 23 side. The Wigan-born striker is really showing signs of possibly breaking into the Sean Dyche ’s first team at the club who remarkably secured a seventh-place finish in the English top flight league, behind the acclaimed big six of Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea, and Arsenal.

He is one of only two players from the youth teams that were offered professional contracts by the Clarets. Chakwana and age mate, Mark Howarth signed one-year deals with an option to add another year. Speaking about Chakwana who has been at Burnley since 2015 on scholarship, his former coach, Michael Jolly at the Under-23 side said:

"Tinashe's quality is improving tremendously. He is scoring goals for the team and that's important for a forward player Our aim is to get more players into the first team and we have more players training as part of the first team group from the Under-21 side and Tinashe is one of those players who have the potential to break into the first team soon." - Michael Jolly

By virtue of being born in England, Chakwana is eligible to play for the Three Lions or his parents’ origin. Zimbabwe will most definitely be keeping tabs with this exciting talent.