Tawanda Chirewa Features In Ipswich Town Vs Crystal Palace

Promising Ipswich Town youngster Tawanda Chirewa got the taste of premier league standards after featuring in Ipswich Town’s preseason friendly against premier league side Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The 18-year-old Chirewa who was born in Zimbabwe before relocating to the UK with his parents at young age, was introduced in the 67th minutes for Ipswich Town as they lost 4-2 to a full strength Crystal Palace side that featured all stars including Christen Benteke, Wilfred Zaha, Cheick Doucoure and Eberechi Eze.

Chirewa’s introduction brought goals for the Tractor boys as they finally found the net in the 70th minutes just three minutes after he came on the field in place of Cameron Humphreys to fight back and finish the match on a 4-2 scoreline.

Chirewa was one of the top performers for the U23s during 2021/22, scoring 12 times as the side coached by Kieron Dyer and then John McGreal topped Professional Development League Two South.

The Sheffield-raised forward was due to be out of contract this summer but the Blues recently took an option to keep him for a further season and are keen to keep him at Portman Road longer term.

He is reportedly on the radar of Arsenal and West Ham among other teams keen to recruit him into their development squads.

Chirewa, who qualifies to play international football for Zimbabwe, became Town’s second-youngest first-team player when he made his debut in the EFL Trophy tie at Colchester in November 2019 aged 16 years and 31 days old.

He is among The Tractor boys’ academy players looking to nail a first team place in the coming English League One season.