Former Blues forward Tawanda Chirewa has joined the Wolverhampton Wanderers development squad having left Portman Road in the summer after turning down the offer of a new contract.
The 19-year-old was offered new terms in May, the Blues having taken an option for an additional year in his previous contract the previous summer.
It appeared at the time that the offer was made in order to ensure training compensation for the Chelmsford-born attacker’s years in the Blues academy with there being little chance of him signing the deal. We understand compensation terms have been agreed between the clubs following discussions over the summer.
Chirewa, who is understood to have signed a four-year deal at Molineux, made one Papa Johns Trophy start and two sub appearances, one in that competition and one in the FA Cup, while with the Blues.
When he made his debut as a sub at Colchester in the Papa Johns Trophy, he became the club’s second-youngest first-team player at 16 years and 31 days behind Connor Wickham.
A number of Premier League clubs, Arsenal believed to be among them, have shown interest in Chirewa over the last few transfer windows with West Ham having made offers in the summer of 2022.
Wolves’ academy manager for football, Jon Hunter-Barrett, says the forward had been on their radar for some time.
"It’s one that we’re delighted to get over the line,” he told his club’s website. "We’ve been watching Tawanda for a while now, since the age of 16, and monitoring his progress before picking the right opportunity to approach and get him across for his services.
"His key qualities are his handling of the ball in tight areas and an ability to get the team up the pitch to create and score from deep areas.
"As always, with one of our key strategies of looking at loan opportunities for our players at the right time, the departures of Harvey [Griffiths] and Alfie [Pond] and steady progression of one or two others into the first-team squad, it was important we strengthened our U21s to ensure they have the ability to compete throughout the season.”
Head of UK academy recruitment Harry Hooman added: "Tawanda is someone we have liked and monitored for a long time, dating back to when he was an U16. Although nothing happened at the time, we continued to monitor his development closely over the last few seasons.
"He is an athletic, talented player with the ability to score and create goals. He wants to get on the ball and is not afraid to take responsibility and take risks to make things happen.
"We feel he has the attributes and potential to do well for us both in the short and long-term. This is a fresh challenge for him and we are excited to see him kick on again with us.”
Town face Wolves in the Carabao Cup third round at Portman Road next week but it seems unlikely that Chirewa will be involved.