Kundai Benyu: I turned down Tottenham to join Celtic under Brendan Rodgers but I got banished to the U-14s – now I’m unemployed at 25

By thescottishsun.co.uk

HE turned down interest from English Premier League big-hitters after a personal phone call from Brendan Rodgers.

But it proved an unsuccessful spell at Celtic and the now 25-year old midfielder is without a club.

The summer transfer window in 2017 saw the Hoops land several big stars.

Odsonne Edouard, Olivier Ntcham and Patrick Roberts all arrived as boss Rodgers looked to build on the previous season’s invincible campaign.

Also arriving at the club was a highly-rated young midfielder, Kundai Benyu.

The 19-year old arrived at Parkhead from Ipswich Town on a four-year contract, having impressed on loan at Aldershot Town the previous season.

While Benyu hadn’t yet made a splash at a major level, several huge clubs were battling Celtic for his signature.

He revealed he turned down the likes of Tottenham, West Ham and Aston Villa to join the Hoops after a personal intervention from Rodgers.

The gaffer rang Benyu from his holiday and convinced him to move north in June 2017.

Benyu made his first team debut in Champions League qualifying against Linfield less than a month after joining.

He appeared the following week in the next round against Rosenborg, before being handed his first start in a 5-0 mauling of Kilmarnock in the League Cup.

Benyu started again against Killie in the Premiership, playing 78 minutes of a 2-0 win at Rugby Park.

But that would turn out to be Benyu’s ONLY league appearance for the Hoops – and his last first team appearance for the club altogether.

He would spent the second half of the campaign on loan at Oldham Athletic, later linking up with Henrik Larsson in Sweden with Helsingborg in 2019.

In a dramatic drop down the levels, he moved on to non-league English outfit Wealdstone where he’d spend less than a year.

Benyu next moved to Iceland, joining second tier side Vestri.

After 15 months there, he stepped up to the top division with IBV.

However, he was released towards the end of last year and has been without a club ever since.

In an interview last year, Benyu revealed just how sour his spell at Parkhead turned.

And not the youth team – literally the Celtic KIDS.

He told the Daily Mail: “The way I found out wasn’t the best of ways to be honest. It wasn’t even Neil that told me.

“It was two guys that I’d never met before in my whole life at Celtic. To this day I still don’t know who they are or what they do at the club.

“They just came in and told me you’re going to have to train with the kids until this is all resolved.

“They didn’t mean the reserves as well. Literally kids – under-14s, under-15s. As you could imagine that was my last day ever going into Lennoxtown.”

Despite struggles at club level, Benyu has found success in international football in recent years.

Born in London, he now represents Zimbabwe internationally.

He was part of the squad at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and was still picking up caps as recently as last year.