Nakamba tells an incredible story behind his name MARVELOUS and his rise from rags

Aston Villa’s Marvelous Nakamba has revealed the incredible story behind his name and his rise to become an English Premier League star.

The 26-year old was born in Hwange but grew up in Bulawayo where he started his career at Highlanders juniors. He was snapped by Methembe Ndlovu at Bantu Rovers before going to Europe at the age of 19.

Since moving to England last year, Nakamba’s first name was met with jokes as the word Marvelous is mostly used as an adjective.

In an interview with the Birmingham Mail, a UK newspaper, the midfielder explained his parents might have been so excited that they called him Marvelous because his birth was marvelous news.

“My name came from my parents,” he said. “My young brother is called Junior (of Nakamba’s father). My son will be called Junior Marvelous! But I think they were excited maybe, that’s why they gave the name Marvelous. We learn English at school, they understood what it meant.”

Nakamba also spoke about his poor upbringing and how his mom worked in South Africa to buy him his first pair of Puma boots while supporting the family back in Bulawayo.

He said: “Life was not so easy but, with football, it made me enjoy life. It helped me a lot.

“Football kept me out of other things, it was not an easy life. It made everything look easy because I was playing football.

“My mother was working in South Africa so she could support me, buying me football boots and everything, my first boots were Puma. She was there for me.

“She’d come back home every three or four months to visit for two, three weeks after being at work and did that again and again. She had to do that to provide for the family. I stayed with my dad, Anthony.

“It helped me focus more, to give everything to succeed in football for my family, for everyone around me. It helped me grow up. To be satisfied with what I have, to give hunger to what I want, giving everything for my family.

“My mother was a maid in South Africa. My younger brother, Junior, was so young, staying with my auntie in another city, Victoria Falls.”

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