BY FORTUNE MBELE
A UNITED States journalist has said Warriors defender Teenage Hadebe will fit well into the Major League Soccer (MLS) outfit Houston Dynamo’s defence, lauding the player for his exploits in Turkey.
Writing for mlsmultiplex.com, journalist Chuck Wharton said Houston Dynamo had done away with experimenting with their defence by signing a suitable defender in Hadebe.
Wharton has decades of experience in tracking sports statistics.
“The hybrid defender-midfielder experiment has ended. Houston Dynamo FC got serious and signed central defender Teenage Hadebe. Hadebe heads to Houston Dynamo FC after successful plays as a central defender, plus left, for Yeni Malatyaspor in Turkey’s Super Lig,” Wharton wrote.
“The left-footed player gets paid as a defender, but the past season, also scored two goals plus an assist. Add to that, his averages per game of 1,6 aerials won, 4,5 clearances, just under a tackle per match, then dribbles and blocks. Hadebe got Super Lig team of the week honours five times. He won league honors in the first of his two seasons.”
Hadebe joins the US side from Yeni Malatyaspor, a Turkish club he joined from South African giants Kaizer Chiefs in 2019 after spending two years in the Absa Premier Soccer League, now the DStv Premier League.
Wharton says Houston’s advantage now is they have a full package defender, who can attack space and score goals instead of using Honduran midfielder Boniek Garcia as a defender.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
That Houston had a lot of competition for Hadebe’s signature makes the Warriors defender, the US club’s biggest signing so far and he becomes the club’s third most expensive player.
Hadebe had also attracted attention in France’s second-tier league but opted for Houston Dynamo.
“In recent games, Houston left out beginning with midfielder Boniek Garcia on the backline. That hybrid position for the defensive midfielder breathed new life into his mature career. The idea was to further open up lanes for the offense while clearing any attacks,” Wharton said.
“But with Hadebe’s successful development in his position, he is expected to occasionally exploit those clearances and lanes for himself. Then he will assist or score along them. His greatest areas for improvement are crossing and passing. Despite that Houston had a lot of competition for Hadebe’s transfer. That meant the Dynamo had to budget more for Hadebe and named him a designated player, outside the team’s salary cap.”
Hadebe was signed for US$1,65 million for three years by Houston and becomes the sixth Zimbabwean player to feature in the US MLS after Joseph Ngwenya, Mkhokheli Dube, Vitalis Takawira, Mamba Chisoni and Stanley Nyazamba.
He expected to partner US national team defender Tim Parker in the heart of Houston Dynamo’s defence.
- Follow Fortune on Twitter @FortuneMbele
