Man Utd teen Mejbri compared to Keane & Becks but dad wanted him to be a doctor

WITH a reputation like Hannibal, Premier League golf equipment may very well be forgiven for fearing Man United’s teenage wonderkid.

However the one factor terrifying about Hannibal Mejbri, the frizzy-haired 19-year-old midfielder, is his expertise.

Mejbri arrived at Outdated Trafford in 2019 on a £9.3million transfer after a thriller fallout with former membership Monaco.

However the Monegasque’s loss is United’s acquire, because the playmaker, who additionally drew curiosity from Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur, with the ace already having fun with quite a lot of coaching classes and a promising first-team cameo.

HE CAME OF AGE

It was throughout an FA Youth Cup conflict with Leeds at Outdated Trafford that he actually got here of age two years in the past.

Focused by the away followers, with chants like ‘Sideshow Bob is f****** s***’, a reference to the chief villain in The Simpsons, Mejbri was on the top of some powerful challenges through the sport.

However what doesn’t break you, solely makes you stronger and Mejbri survived the take a look at – placing in an completed efficiency on the ball.

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Neil Ryan, the United Below-18 coach, advised The Occasions afterwards: “He’s a proficient boy and like all good gamers he’ll get focused by any opposition.

“That’s what he has to study, how you can channel and focus his energies and to not get caught up in that, and I assumed he did that properly.”

Nicky Butt has been impressed by the qualities he’s seen in Mejbri, evaluating him to legends Bryan Robson, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and David Beckham.

Butt advised the Manchester Night Information: “Leaders are at all times checked out like a Roy Keane, a Steve Bruce, a Bryan Robson, these form of verbal, actual aggression, actual leaders.

“And you then’ve acquired leaders like Paul Scholes or David Beckham or Ryan Giggs, who’s quiet however actually leads by instance of how they play and the way they work exhausting.

“We’ve acquired the old style leaders, should you like, who’re going to speak to the gamers and drive the staff,” he mentioned.

“Hannibal (Mejbri)’s a pacesetter. The way in which he performs his soccer is 100mph, he’s continuous working up and down.”

He adopted that up with an excellent double in a pre-season pleasant for the first-team in opposition to Salford final summer season and was quickly being tied-down to a brand new long-term deal.

FALL OUT BOY

Again in August 2019, Manchester United pounced on Mejbri after he was embroiled in a disagreement with Monaco.

“One thing unhealthy occurred,” his father Lotfi Mejbri, a former Tunisian footballer, advised Le Parisien.

“For our household, it was very exhausting to reside. It’s an actual shock, a trauma.

“There have been errors made and, from there, I take into account the connection of belief between the membership and our household destroyed.”

His future at all times appeared optimistic given the id of his agent, Jorge Mendes, the person dubbed ‘the tremendous agent’ who represents Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho.

And but, if it have been as much as his father, the boy could be battling in courts fairly than midfield or performing in a hospital theatre fairly than stadiums.

Regardless of being a footballer himself, Mejbri Snr insisted his hope was to see his son go right into a profession as a lawyer or physician.

He as soon as mentioned: “Even when he does [make it as a pro footballer], I don’t want him to have a chickpea for a mind in his head.”

Mejbri had different suitors within the Premier League.

On the age of 14, he educated with Arsenal and had a proposal from Liverpool however ended up in Monte Carlo.

Lotfi mentioned: “It has by no means been a query of cash. If we have been in for that, we may have gotten much more than what’s being claimed within the press.

“I’ll give an anecdote: after signing for Monaco while on vacation in Tunisia, a lawyer with a mandate from Liverpool known as me with an infinite supply.

“However I solely had one phrase for him.”

After the success of United signing Bruno Fernandes for £56m, Mejbri may discover his path to the primary staff blocked in the interim.

Nevertheless, Butt thinks that given time he’ll flourish for the membership.

“He’s a really, very proficient boy however he’s nonetheless very immature,” he mentioned. He’s nonetheless a child. He’s not acquired something on him simply but, he must construct up his measurement and construct up his physicality.”