Aston Villa striker Mbwana Samatta has gifted Uganda custodian Denis Onyango a signed Aston Villa jersey.
Samatta, who is the captain of the Tanzania national team, gifted his counterpart, who skippers Uganda, with the jersey just a few days after his club avoided being relegated from the Premier League.
Onyango, who currently features for Mamelodi Sundowns in South Africa, has taken to his social media pages to reveal the rare gesture from the Tanzanian striker, who signed for the Villa Park club from KRC Genk in Belgium.
“Huge thanks for the wonderful jersey all the way from Aston Villa, Birmingham, thanks a lot Bruv!!! I really appreciate it,” Onyango wrote on his Twitter page.
“Good to see you help your team survive relegation. All the best next season.”
Aston Villa kept their status in the top-flight on the final day of action after Jack Grealish’s late goal, coupled with Watford’s 3-2 defeat at Arsenal, handed them the result they needed.
The battle to avoid the two remaining relegation places went down to the wire as Aston Villa scored in the 84th minute, conceded a minute later, then held on for 1-1 draw at West Ham to survive.
West Ham had already secured their own Premier League place for 2020-21 with a draw at Manchester United and thus finished the season in 16th spot.
Samatta, who struggled for form since the return of football - after impressing in his early stints with goals against Bournemouth and Manchester City, signed for Aston Villa in January - and came into the side for Brazilian Wesley Moraes, who fell to injury at the start of the year.
A week ago, Samatta confirmed he will remain at Aston Villa for the new Premier League season.
“I want to thank God for giving me another chance to play in the Premier League for another season,” Samatta wrote on his social media pages.
“I also want to thank all those fans who were behind me, and kept praying for Villa to stay up so that you can see me again in the Premier League.”
Samatta scored only one goal in 14 appearances leading to reports the attacker could be granted a quick exit route from the club at the end of the season.
Samatta and Onyango both captained their national teams in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations finals held in Egypt, where Uganda reached the last 16 while Tanzania did not make it from the group stage.
