ZIMBABWE and Celtic midfielder Kundai Benyu has joined Swedish side Helsingborg on a year-long loan deal.
The midfielder, who joined Celtic from Ipswich in 2017, has not played a senior game this season, and will stay in Scandanavia until January 21, 2020.
The 21-year-old’s departure came on the same day Brendan Rodgers opened talks with Leicester on prospects of him becoming the new boss at the King Power Stadium.
Benyu was signed by Rodgers from Ipswich 18 months ago. He made four appearances last season — two from the bench — before being shipped out on loan to Oldham Athletic for the second half of the season.
“I have a very good feeling,” Benyu said of the move. “It feels like a good opportunity for me to continuously play A-team football at a high level.
“My team-mate in Celtic, Mikael Lustig, told me that Helsingborg is a big club and that this was a good opportunity for me so I wanted to come here from the moment I heard about the interest. I have heard that the club has good supporters, so I look forward to impressing them and showing what I can do.”
Helsingborg coach Per-Ola Ljung said: “We have an aggressively skilled midfielder, who can be used both centrally and on the wing and has the qualities that correspond to our goals.”
Benyu has been named in the Young Warriors squad for the Under-23 African Cup of Nations football qualifiers next month against Mozambique.
Born in London to Zimbabwean parents, he has previously played for the Warriors in friendly matches, but cannot feature for the senior national team in competitive matches because he is yet to acquire a Zimbabwean passport.
He is yet to commit himself to the latest Young Warriors team call-up.
Benyu is one of the foreign-based players that were earlier this week named by Young Warriors coach Tonderai Ndiraya in the squad. The other big name on the list is Admiral Muskwe, who plays for Leicester in England.