By Kevin Mapasure
Zimbabwe international and AmaZulu attacker Talent Chawapiwa has revealed his admiration for Liverpool and Egyptian superstar Mohammed Salah, whom he tries to emulate.
Chawapiwa opened up on his journey in football to South African publication Soccer Laduma, revealing his struggles at the formative stages of his career until everything started shaping up a few years ago.
The speedy winger surprised many when he signed for AmaZulu amid Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs’ interest, but he explained in the interview how he ended up at the Durban-based side.
He sealed his move to AmaZulu on deadline day of the January transfer window last year, signing from Baroka which had taken him to South Africa.
While he has struggled for goals, having gone without scoring so far this season, he sees himself as a Salah-like player and he tries to model his game around the English Premier League Golden Boot winner.
“The player that I look up to most and try to emulate is Mohammed Salah. He is very quick and he is a goal machine, so I try hard to play like him. I think we have the same type of play, so I try to improve myself by watching him in action a lot. I spend a lot of time watching his videos, rewinding and fast forwarding just trying to understand what he does better,” he told Soccer Laduma.
He still has a lot to polish if he is going to be as prolific a goalscorer as Salah, who is aiming for another Golden Boot, having scored 16 goals in the league, three behind Leicester’s Jamie Vardy.
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Chawapiwa explained why he ended up at AmaZulu despite interest from Kaizer Chiefs.
“I can’t say I chose AmaZulu over Chiefs, but I heard about the Chiefs interest and that was just about how far it went. With AmaZulu, I was told about their interest and I was open to it. They moved fast and negotiated and two days later I was on my way to Durban. So I can’t say I was made to choose between the two.”
The former FC Platinum forward shared information on the events that led to his move from ZPC Kariba to the platinum miners and then to Baroka Stars over a five-month period.
“I got a call, in fact, the call came through George Chigova who came to me and said someone wants to speak to you and it was Morgan Mammilo, the Baroka chief executive officer.
“He said ‘Talent, we want to work with you’ and I said ‘yes, I am open to that’. I remember we had just finished the Cosafa Cup final against Zambia and I had scored in that match. So the next day they called again and they said they were coming to Zimbabwe to negotiate. They came and the negotiations were done and I signed.
It was unbelievable because everything just moved fast from the time I signed from ZPC Kariba to FC Platinum where I played just five months and here I was signing a contract with a South African club. Norman Mapeza was the one who had taken me from ZPC Kariba and it was at FC Platinum where I signed my first professional contract.”
Chawapiwa will be hoping to inspire his team to remain in the topflight league as they currently sit just three points above the automatic relegation spot.
The South African topflight, like most leagues around the world, has been suspended due to the coronavirus with most of the teams having played 24 of the 30 matches that they are supposed to play for the season.
