Tawanda Chirewa has signed a new contract at Wolves and joined Championship side Derby County on loan for the 2024/25 season.
Signed from Ipswich Town last summer, the youngster was quickly part of Gary O’Neil’s first-team group and went on to make 10 senior appearances, eight of which came in the Premier League.
Still aged just 20, the forward impressed the head coach and was part of the club’s pre-season camps in Marbella and Miami but is yet to make a first-team squad so far this season.
Instead, he’ll now link up with Paul Warne, credited with improving former Old Gold man Ryan Giles, at Derby County, who were promoted back to the second tier in May and face Barrow in the Carabao Cup this week.
Head of professional football development Matt Jackson said: “Tawanda’s made great progress since he's 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.
“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 to really have his wits about him, both 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.”
Chirewa, who scored on his second international appearance for Zimbabwe in the summer, originally impressed for Wolves’ under-21s last season, before stepping up to make his senior debut in the Emirates FA Cup at Brentford in January, which signalled the biggest milestone yet of his Wolves career.
Jackson said: “We expected him to do well because we knew his ability. Great credit to our recruitment team to see that potential. But ultimately, he has to take responsibility for that, and he has done. He's maturing as a person as well as a player, and he'll relish the opportunity to go out to a big club in Derby to showcase his skills.
“Games are so important. We like that exposure they get in the first-team, because they see how good they have to be day in, day out. It's different if you just get occasional chances to show the first-team coach what you can do, but he was doing that on a daily basis. You learn the physical strength that's required and the discipline you need to bring every single day to training. Hopefully he can now impact the Championship, doing that for Derby.
“He’s looking forward to the opportunity. He wanted to get out as quickly as possible. It’s great for him that contract negotiations were very sensible moving forward and great for all parties. For him, he understands at this stage of his career, playing is all important, and that's the opportunity he's now going to take.”
