Tendayi Darikwa Arrives At DW Stadium From Nottingham Forest
Wigan Athletic have confirmed the signing of former Clarets right-back Tendayi Darikwa on a short-term contract until the end of the season, subject to the English Football League approval. Darikwa arrives at the DW Stadium following a spell with Nottingham Forest in the Sky Bet Championship where he played over 50 league games.
The Zimbabwe international spent the majority of the 2019-20 season on the side-lines due to injury, but returned to be involved in the Nottingham Forest squad towards the end of the campaign. Yet to feature for Forest’s first team this term, Darikwa featured twice for Zimbabwe in their African Cup of Nations qualification campaign in November and has maintained his match fitness with Forest’s U23 side.
Darikwa began his career at Chesterfield, working with Paul Cook and Leam Richardson in Derbyshire during a successful period in which the Spireites won the Sky Bet League Two title in 2014 and finished in the play-off places of Sky Bet League One within a year. After winning Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year for the 2014-15 season, Darikwa attracted interest from the Premier League and Championship, with Burnley winning the race for his services that summer.
Darikwa featured 21 times as Burnley won the Sky Bet Championship as the Clarets won promotion to the Premier League in 2016, though after a further year at Turf Moor he moved to Nottingham Forest. Having made 63 appearances for Forest, he now joins Wigan Athletic to help his former assistant manager Richardson and ex-Chesterfield teammate Dan Gardner to secure Latics’ Sky Bet League One status. Darikwa is a former teammate of a number of ex-Latics, including Samy Morsy, Gary Roberts, Danny Fox, Kieran Dowell, David Jones, Ben Watson, Richard O’Donnell and Matt Gilks.
Chadwick Media 