UK: Marshall Munetsi – a player tipped for the Premier League from a young age in Zimbabwe

By The Athletic

Desmund Ali is a successful banker and a supporter of Wolverhampton Wanderers. Despite living in Harare, the capital of the southern African nation of Zimbabwe, Ali describes himself as a die-hard fan.

When he makes one of his semi-regular pilgrimages to Molineux later this year, he will have even more reason to support his team. This is because he is the man behind Ali Sundowns — the club from a Harare ‘ghetto’ that launched the career of Marshall Munetsi, Wolves’ newest midfielder.

“We are so proud of him,” Ali tells The Athletic. “This team is from the ghetto that I grew up in. I grew up in a high-density area called Mabvuku. It is mostly poor people. We struggle to make ends meet, but we are comfortable.

“It’s a community that I’ve invested in and I’m proud of and what Marshall has done has brought hope to a lot of youngsters. This is the core of football and they are also now dreaming to say, ‘I can make it’.”

Ali first met Munetsi when Wolves’ £16million ($19.8m) winter signing was a 10-year-old with a talent for football.

A passionate player himself in his youth, Ali prioritised his education and forged a banking career that has taken him to Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.

But in 2003, he chose to pursue his sporting dreams via another route. He launched a club, initially for teams at the under-12, under-14 and under-16 levels and eventually extended to under-18s and into senior football, which provided a stage for youngsters who had outgrown the under-18s team.

The senior side have progressed from the fourth tier of Zimbabwean football to the second and Ali last year launched a women’s team at under-16s level, with the aim of reaching the top division within two years.

But Ali Sundowns’ biggest success story so far is Munetsi, who this weekend is set to fulfil the founder’s prediction that he would eventually play in either La Liga or the Premier League.

“My first impression of Marshall was that he had potential,” says Ali. “The biggest issue when we identify players for leagues in Europe is that you want bigger guys like (former Zimbabwe international) Benjani.

“Size matters in Europe and when I saw him I thought, ‘This guy is going to grow big’. I didn’t use any science. It was just an observation with the eye. When I saw his father and mother, I could tell that this guy was going to grow big.

“He could play as a right-back, as a centre-back, as a defensive link, as an attacking link and even as a striker. He was kind of a utility player. Covering ground was always a strength of his, even when he was playing at centre-back. He could easily join the attack without a problem. His other attribute was that he had booming shots.

“Even when he was young, he could hit the ball so well. He came to training on time, focusing on his training and he was more like an introvert. He didn’t talk too much, but he would do his talking on the field. If you saw him for the first time, you would think he’s just a quiet boy.

“But when you then see him playing and he’s commanding the midfield, he’s giving instructions or directing team-mates, then you see he actually talks.

“He was serious about his football, going home, coming for training, going to school.”

Munetsi, whose father was a police officer, grew up near Mabvuku in a community of homes owned by Harare’s police force.

His father, described by Ali as a “disciplinarian”, was supportive of his son’s football ambitions and, after three years at Ali Sundowns, Munetsi was selected to play for his provincial representative side at under-14s level.

Four years later, he was chosen to play for Zimbabwe’s under-17s and, after seven years with Ali’s side, he left to join another Harare club, Blue Rangers, who were in the country’s second tier.

His next move was to Cape Town in South Africa, where he played initially for Ubuntu before being spotted by Orlando Pirates, one of South Africa’s biggest clubs.

“The coach who signed him, Eric Tinkler, was then fired and the new coach didn’t have plans for him, so he was sent on loan to a rival in the same league, called Baroka,” says Ali.

“He played so well at Baroka that Orlando Pirates called him back. He played well there and he was signed by Reims in France.”

Munetsi spent five and a half years in France, playing 148 times in Ligue 1 before finally getting his move to the Premier League at 28.

He could make his debut in the competition at Anfield on Sunday, having made his first Wolves appearance in the FA Cup at Blackburn Rovers last weekend.

When he returns home to Zimbabwe to prepare for World Cup qualifiers with the national team at the end of March, he will have new experiences to share.

He launched a foundation in 2019 to help underprivileged people in his homeland, donating a proportion of his salary to help fund it, and he takes a hands-on approach back in the community where his football journey began.

“Every time Marshall is in Zimbabwe, he comes to my team, he shares his success stories,” says Ali. “He goes to the primary schools, he does the same at the high school that he went to, Mabvuku High, which is where my team trains and I have some players from there.

“Marshall is a big influence. He gives back to the community big time. He’s a guy that we’re so proud of and he has not forgotten his roots.”

Long before Munetsi’s move to England, Ali predicted in a Zimbabwean newspaper interview that his club’s most successful export would play at the highest level in either England or Spain, so if he gets on the field in Merseyside this weekend, it will be the vindication of a bold prophecy for his mentor.

But, for Ali, Munetsi joining Wolves is beyond his wildest dreams given his own affinity with the West Midlands club.

“A few years ago, I went to the UK to visit friends and they had some relatives that lived in Wolverhampton,” he says. “I went to the stadium once and I fell in love with Wolves and a lot of people don’t believe it because for people in Harare, it’s usually about Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool or Arsenal.

“Those are the teams they talk about here. If there’s a game for Wolves on television, I’ll be the only supporter there, but I will be dressed in my Wolves kit.

“I am a diehard fan and Marshall is now playing for my team. So this time around, I’m going to watch one of my own young boys playing there. It is unbelievable.”