Zambian legend Kalusha Bwalya has thrown his weight behind Chipolopolo midfielder Enock Mwepu, whose career was abruptly ended earlier this week.
News of Mwepu’s premature retirement due to a medical condition shook the football world.
This was after English Premiership side Brighton & Hove Albion announced, on Monday, that the player was forced to retire after he was diagnosed with a hereditary heart condition.
The condition would “put Enock at an extremely high risk of suffering a potentially fatal cardiac event if he were to continue playing competitive football”.
Mwepu, 24, had emerged as a key player for his club and country when things took an undesirable turn forcing him to end his promising career at a relatively young age.
TOUGH PERIOD FOR MWEUP
Bwalya says the change of fortunes for his compatriot is hard to swallow.
“It’s a difficult period for Enock and his family. I mean, 24 is not 30-something,” Bwalya told FARPost.
“It has caught us, as the Zambian football fraternity, by surprise. There’s nothing more that one can say, but we are always there for him
The 1988 African Footballer of the Year revealed he didn’t want to go to town about Mwepu since he was yet to talk to the man who made 24 appearances for the Zambian national team.
Mwepu, who hails from Chambishi, represented Zambia at junior levels before making a name for himself in Europe at Austrian outfit Red Bull Salzburg, where he won four league titles and three cup competitions.
SUCCESS BOUND
His impressive displays earned him a move to the elite league in England.
“We are proud of him. We know where he came from and what he has achieved. He and Patson Daka [Leicester City striker] have had big strides, especially in the Premiership.
“So from Kafue Celtic, we know them from when they were very young. We wish him strength. It’s difficult; we don’t know the details of everything because this is a medical issue,” said Bwalya.
“We always stand with him in good and bad, so we just want to say we are there for any moral support that we can give.”
Mwepu was in his second season with Brighton before the curtain came down on a career that promised much. The man nicknamed ‘Computer’ vowed he wouldn’t be lost to the game.
“A boy from a small Zambian township called Chambishi has some news to share. He stood strong to follow his dream of playing football at the highest level, and by the grace of God, he lived his dream by reaching the Premier League,” Mwepu wrote on his various social media accounts.
“Some dreams, however, come to an end, so it is with sadness that I announce the need to hang up my boots because of the medical advice I have received.
“This is, however, not the end of my involvement with football. I plan to stay involved in some capacity.”
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