Aston Villa’s Johan Manzambi is the man of the moment after another weekend of impressing in the Premier League, and that’s seen links with clubs including Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham.
The 21-year-old joined Villa in a €60m deal in the summer after impressing at the World Cup with Switzerland and, so far, has been living up to expectations.
With two goals and two assists in four goals in the Premier League, and a goal and an assist in one game in the Champions League, Aston Villa maybe couldn’t have asked for more.
His latest shining moment came against Newcastle as he scored the winning goal in Aston Villa’s 1-0 win at St James Park a week ago.
That put his name firmly in the headlines, with most of Europe watching his development closely. Indeed, some reports have already linked him to the likes of Real Madrid.
Old coach watching
One man watching closely is Federico Valente. He coached Manzambi during his time in the youth academy at Freiburg, and now backs the player for a transfer to the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea or Tottenham.
He, interestingly, didn’t see this current rise coming when he worked with the youngster.
“Honestly, if someone had told me four years ago that he would be playing in the Premier League at this level, I wouldn’t have bet a single cent on it,” he said.
“I could see him becoming a professional, sure—but not at this pace and in such a short amount of time.”
He does, though, admit that the Aston Villa midfielder’s mentality does set him aside from other players in his age.
“When he arrived, he wasn’t fully developed physically and didn’t speak a word of German,” he added.
“On his first day, he introduced himself by saying ‘Guten Tag’ and immediately integrated with the German players to learn the language, rather than isolating himself with the French speakers.
“His greatest asset has always been his mentality: every single day, he stepped onto the pitch with a desire to improve and to be better than he had been the day before.”
Manzambi of the moment
The coach now believes Aston Villa have pulled off a transfer coup by securing the youngster when they did. That’s even if they had to pay a top fee to get the midfielder this summer.
“Aston Villa have pulled off an extraordinary coup—, t’s a very smart move,” he insisted.
“The Premier League is a lightning-fast competition where referees rarely blow their whistles, yet Johan grasped the dynamics immediately, even though he had missed pre-season training due to an injury.
“When a player has hunger and the right mentality, they operate at full throttle and never look for excuses.”
Valente also believes that Manzambi is already maintain his €60m valuation. And, interestingly, he thinks the top four in the Premier League – including Tottenham – could come calling in future as well.
“A €60 million price tag in the Premier League isn’t unreasonable for a 22-year-old with these kinds of technical and physical attributes,” he concluded.
“Under Unai Emery, Aston Villa plays an attacking, proactive style of football—it’s the perfect stepping stone.
“But if he can maintain this level of consistency, I could easily see him playing for a ‘top four’ side like Manchester City, Chelsea, or Tottenham. Could he become a world-class player? I truly believe so; he has exactly the right mentality.”
