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Benjamin "Alessio" Mwaruwari (Benjani) |
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(33/9)Since the 2006 African Cup of Nations Benjani has been the Captain of the Zimbabwe national team. He is only the third Zimbabwean to play in the English Premiership following in the footsteps of Bruce Grobbelaar and Peter Ndlovu.
Benjani began his career at the Lulu Rovers and University of Zimbabwe teams in Zimbabwe's Division one and Air Zimbabwe Jets in the country's Premier League in 1999. He moved to South African club Jomo Cosmos in 1999 after impressing in the friendly match between South Africa and Zimbabwe that was played to commomerate the inauguration of Thabo Mbeki as the president of South Africa. In 2001 he was voted Footballer of the Year in South Africa alongside Siyabonga Nomvete despite only having joined the South African Premiership in the second half of the season.
He moved to Grasshoppers Zürich of Switzerland on loan in 2001. In 2002 and from there to AJ Auxerre of France. He had a good run at the start, capitalising from Djibril Cissé's absence, and became top goalscorer in Ligue 1. Roux never played the two together, and eventually Benjani found himself surplus to requirements. On 5 January 2006 he was signed him by Portsmouth for £4.1 mill. after Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger recommended the player to Harry Redknapp.
After failing to score in his first fourteen games for Portsmouth, Benjani finally got his first goal for Portsmouth against Wigan Athletic on 29 April 2006 in a 2-1 victory which saw Portsmouth avoid relegation from the Premier League. On 29 September 2007, he scored his first hat-trick for Portsmouth in an incredible 7-4 win over Reading. It was a new record both the number of goals scored in a Premier League match, and a league match shown on Match of the Day. After Portsmouth's visit to Wigan on 20 October, Benjani became the Premier League's top scorer.
Benjani's goalscoring form during the first half of the 2007/08 cemented Manchester City manager Sven-Göran Eriksson's interest in the striker, and on transfer deadline day on 31 January 2008 City had a bid of around £8m accepted for the transfer of the player. However, Benjani missed two successive planes to Manchester, meaning he didn't arrive at the club in time to complete a medical and realize a move before the transfer deadline. Benjani never asked for the transfer and had been happy at Portsmouth. In the end the transfer was completed and Benjani moved to City on 5 February 2008 for a fee of £3.87 million. Further payments could be made if the player makes up to 75 senior starts which would raise the fee to a total of £7.6 million.
He made his debut for City on 10 February 2008 against rival Manchester United in a 2-1 victory to City. He scored the second goal from a header in his first Manchester derby. His first goal at the City of Manchester Stadium was ironically against his former club Portsmouth.
Provided by: Svenn A. Hanssen, svenn@hanssen.priv.no