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Nakamba could feature for Luton after Zimbabwe’s AFCON exit
By Luton Today
Town boss Jack Wilshere has insisted that midfielder Marvelous Nakamba will be an option for the Hatters once more after returning to the Brache following Zimbabwe’s exit from the Africa Cup of Nations this week.
The 31-year-old has only featured twice since Wilshere was appointed back in early October, both of those matches coming in the Vertu Trophy, where he completed 90 minutes against Brighton & Hove Albion U21s and Exeter City.
Having been named in just one League One match-day squad by the ex-Arsenal star, that in his opening game, a 2-0 home loss to Mansfield Town, Nakamba has remained a regular for his country in that time.
Despite his lack of minutes for Town, the former Aston Villa and Club Brugge player, who moved to Kenilworth Road permanently in the summer of 2023 after helping the Hatters reach the Premier League during his loan spell, has been involved for his country in their World Cup qualifiers and an international friendly against Qatar too, before heading to Morocco for AFCON.
Asked whether he will be considered for the first team, with Town in the middle of a heavily congested schedule, Wilshere said: “Yes, he comes back into the training, into the group.
“When you have a period like this, we need to see how he is as well as he hasn’t played that much football. Hopefully he comes back healthy and fit, he goes back into training and he’s back into selection because we need players at this moment in time.
“Before I got here, then I can’t comment on that as I didn’t know what happened. It was a question that was asked of me, how’s Marv? Is he fit? And he probably wasn’t quite fit enough to play.
“He missed a little bit of pre-season, but we did look at this and say, right he’s going to go away, have three games, so let’s see how he comes back.”
Nakamba was heavily involved in his side’s defeat to South Africa, but unfortunately not for the right reasons, as with the scores level at 2-2, he dived full length inside his own area to concede a penalty for handball that Oswin Appollis converted to send the Bafana Bafana through and eliminate Zimbabwe, who finished in fourth spot.
He issued an apology afterwards, saying: “I am sorry to my country, to my team-mates and to everyone in Zimbabwe. It’s life, we lose as a team and hopefully we will soldier on and learn from the mistakes. It’s part of life.”