Nakamba awaits Villa call
MARVELOUS Nakamba is relaxed about what the immediate future holds after the Aston Villa midfielder’s loan spell with Luton Town ended with promotion glory at Wembley over the weekend. Nakamba joined Rob Edwards’ Luton in January and spent the second half of the season in the Championship — but they will be in the topflight next term.
The Zimbabwe favourite was permitted a loan move by Villa boss Unai Emery in the winter, who favoured Douglas Luiz, Jacob Ramsey, captain John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara in the second half of the campaign as Lions charged towards Europe, and Nakamba used his move and his regular supply of minutes very intelligently indeed and ended the term with a promotion winners' medal.
Nakamba will now await further instruction from Villa about what his future might hold, and indeed whether Luton are keen to pursue a permanent arrangement with Villa, if he is not to be a part of Emery's wider plans upon his return. For now, after a period of celebrating with Town, he intends to return to his native Zimbabwe and continue the excellent work of his Marvelous Nakamba Foundation which supports underprivileged children and youth, with educational programmes, sport, projects and other life support skills.
"This week I will be celebrating, and then I will go home to Zimbabwe to be with my foundation, doing things like helping the kids and motivating the kids back home,” Nakamba told BirminghamLive. “I expect to spend most of the off-season being at home with my Foundation.
“It’s the only time I can use, this off-season, where I can be with those children, where I can share the happy moments with them. I will certainly celebrate the first week, maybe the second week I will be there with them. For now, it's all about Luton Town going up.
“I’ve not had any discussions with Unai yet. Villa have only just had their last game, and I have only just finished my season here. Only God knows the future, hopefully it's for the best. I still have a contract there, I will just see. Now is the time to celebrate, but I will wait for the phone call, or an email, from my agent or from Aston Villa.
“Wherever I am next season, God only knows, but I will just keep doing my best."
A video clip of Villa players, who were together on Saturday prior to their final day showdown with Brighton at Villa Park, watching Nakamba during Luton’s successful penalty shoot-out victory over Coventry City, went viral. The midfielder himself was well aware of it, and made a point of publicly thanking his claret and blue colleagues for their support.
“They’ve sent me congratulations messages, they’ve been supportive, and Luton have been supportive,” Nakamba smiled. “It’s a fantastic day. I’ve seen the video [of my Villa teammates]! They sent it to me. The Villa lads have been supportive, even when I was not playing they were there for me, encouraging me, and even when I went to Luton most of the guys were like ‘yeah, Naka, just go there and continue doing what you do best’.
“Playing regularly is something that all football players want, it’s very important. Also, I came here and we won promotion, so everyone is happy.”