Chelsea
defender Xavier Mbuyamba on Monday made his long-awaited debut for the club
following a summer move from Barcelona.
Injuries
and fitness problems have hampered his progress, but he was named on the bench
as Chelsea faced Southampton in Premier League 2 and came on with a little
under half an hour to play and scored just four minutes later.
Here’s
everything you need to know about him…
Mbuyamba spent
the majority of his youth career at Dutch outfit MMV Maastricht, making his
debut in a second-tier Eerste Divisie game in November 2018 as a 16-year-old.
He went on to
make a further ten league appearances during the 2018/19 season, at the end of
which he actually spent time on trial at Chelsea, but the Blues could not sign
him because of their transfer ban.
“At Chelsea, I
started the week in under-18s and trained with under-23s at the end of the
week,” he told The Sun.
“The higher the
level, the better I got. I would have actually gone to Chelsea, because they
were the first to come.”
Instead, he signed
for Barcelona last summer and has been a part of their U19 side this season,
also making three appearances in the group stage of the Uefa Youth League.
In Pictures |
Chelsea’s Premier League home kits through the years
Playing style
A Dutch youth international, Mbuyamba has unsurprisingly been compared to
Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk.
At
six-foot-four he certainly has the physical stature and presence in the air,
but, as to be expected of a player signed by Barcelona, is also good on the
ball.
While
centre-half is his preferred position, he also proved an able deputy at
right-back during his time at MMV.
What has he
said?
Back in
February, Mbuyamba posted on Instagram: “”I know you’re all wondering when you
will see me play in Chelsea kit.
“A few weeks
ago that moment was almost there. I was so focused on the comeback and hungry
to play. Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned.
“Three weeks
ago I had another operation, not as big as the first one but I will be out for
a bit longer.
“It’s very
frustrating but I have to be patient, the key is to keep working hard and stay
strong so the comeback will be big. That’s what I do.”
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