Hannibal Mejbri - Manchester United Player

[Adnan]

You call yourself “talent spotter” but seemly don’t understand the position of a youth player plays quite often won’t be the same when they eventually step up to the adult football games. It’s about their potential and the skill set put together.
look at his playing style, he is everywhere and you could say he is a box to box midfield. But his football intelligence, running ability, and ball carrying are so good. It’s a waste not to try to develop into a commanding role of midfield. He also needs to add long range pass to his skill set. I therefore hope him become a a young Matic-like player. It will be surely a more promising path for him to step up to our first team.

I'm not a talent spotter and didn't choose the tag line. You will have to take that up with the admins/mods.

Mejbri is a player who I believe can occupy all the roles in midfield potentially. He has the passing range to be the conductor as the #6. Can also be deployed as the playmaking #8 and as we saw yesterday he can also be deployed as the most advanced midfielder in a 3 where he was 'everywhere' like you mentioned and really helped us evade the Leicester press by even dropping deep on occassions. it was a brilliant all round midfield performance.

I think his long passing is good already and will improve further. He played a beautiful long pass to Mark Helm yesterday to set him away which further demonstrated his ability to pass long if needs arise.

I know players don't necessarily play the same role they played in the youth teams when they establish themselves as regular first team players. Paul Scholes and David Beckham are two examples that immediately come to mind. But taking into consideration the players attributes I believe he would be best suited to playing a box to box role long term which is a role that has the potential to see him cover more ground and see more of the ball both in the defensive phase and the attacking phase.

He's also nothing like Matic IMO and is far more mobile. Mejbri is a lot closer to Scholes stylistically than Matic. And as good as he has been, it's important not to hype him up too much because we've already got myself doing that..

But on a serious note I hope he keeps grounded and keeps improving because he's the profile of player we could really do with coming through the ranks.

 

[Ali Dia]

Backspin pass at about 8mins

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Backspin pass at about 8mins

Ok but did there need to be about 1m of a free kick being lined up only to hit the wall?
who makes these things?

 

[Ekeke]

You call yourself “talent spotter” but seemly don’t understand the position of a youth player plays quite often won’t be the same when they eventually step up to the adult football games. It’s about their potential and the skill set put together.
look at his playing style, he is everywhere and you could say he is a box to box midfield. But his football intelligence, running ability, and ball carrying are so good. It’s a waste not to try to develop into a commanding role of midfield. He also needs to add long range pass to his skill set. I therefore hope him become a a young Matic-like player. It will be surely a more promising path for him to step up to our first team.

You just failed to mention any defensive midfield quality when talking about a DM

 

[city-puma]

I'm not a talent spotter and didn't choose the tag line. You will have to take that up with the admins/mods.

Mejbri is a player who I believe can occupy all the roles in midfield potentially. He has the passing range to be the conductor as the #6. Can also be deployed as the playmaking #8 and as we saw yesterday he can also be deployed as the most advanced midfielder in a 3 where he was 'everywhere' like you mentioned and really helped us evade the Leicester press by even dropping deep on occassions. it was a brilliant all round midfield performance.

I think his long passing is good already and will improve further. He played a beautiful long pass to Mark Helm yesterday to set him away which further demonstrated his ability to pass long if needs arise.

I know players don't necessarily play the same role they played in the youth teams when they establish themselves as regular first team players. Paul Scholes and David Beckham are two examples that immediately come to mind. But taking into consideration the players attributes I believe he would be best suited to playing a box to box role long term which is a role that has the potential to see him cover more ground and see more of the ball both in the defensive phase and the attacking phase.

He's also nothing like Matic IMO and is far more mobile. Mejbri is a lot closer to Scholes stylistically than Matic. And as good as he has been, it's important not to hype him up too much because we've already got myself doing that..

But on a serious note I hope he keeps grounded and keeps improving because he's the profile of player we could really do with coming through the ranks.

I guess we don’t have any disagreement on his capability and football intelligence already shown.
I see his potential to become a commanding midfielder which I think will give him a better path to our first team. You think he is most suitable to be developed into a box to box player. I just feel that might not be an easy path for him to establish himself in our first team.
Matic had been playing as an attacking midfielder all the way until 22, 23 years old. It was in his time in benfica, he was converted to the holding midfield role.
This is why I compared him with the young Matic.
It’s natural people have different options. That’s Ok we agree we disagree.

 

[city-puma]

You just failed to mention any defensive midfield quality when talking about a DM

A dynamic holding midfielder is not a pure DM, in fact, a pure DM role has not been that important in modern football.
His running ability and intelligence is more important for a 18 years old youngster. He loves tracing back to help even when he plays an advanced role. Defensive ability is more about the positioning and game reading capability. I don’t think he cannot crack it by his football intelligence.
He seems having a good height already. Looks like at least 185cm. Can someone confirm his height?

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

He reminds me of Grealish in many ways. Not particularly quick, very press resistant, somehow manages to retain the ball in the unlikeliest circumstances and has excellent vision. He gets a lot of stick on this forum, much of it is to do with his attitude but I don't see anyone else with his level of promise. I'm also old enough to remember very similar criticisms of Pogba when he was playing for the youth teams and people were raving about Ravel, Tunnicliffe and even Larnell Cole.

 

[Adnan]

He reminds me of Grealish in many ways. Not particularly quick, very press resistant, somehow manages to retain the ball in the unlikeliest circumstances and has excellent vision. He gets a lot of stick on this forum, much of it is to do with his attitude but I don't see anyone else with his level of promise. I'm also old enough to remember very similar criticisms of Pogba when he was playing for the youth teams and people were raving about Ravel, Tunnicliffe and even Larnell Cole.

Pogba was always considered a bigger talent than Tunnicliffe and Larnell Cole but Ravel Morrison was the clear standout. And i'm not sure many do criticise Mejbri. Many are just cautious in hyping youngsters too quickly that's all really.

 

[city-puma]

He reminds me of Grealish in many ways. Not particularly quick, very press resistant, somehow manages to retain the ball in the unlikeliest circumstances and has excellent vision. He gets a lot of stick on this forum, much of it is to do with his attitude but I don't see anyone else with his level of promise. I'm also old enough to remember very similar criticisms of Pogba when he was playing for the youth teams and people were raving about Ravel, Tunnicliffe and even Larnell Cole.

A little bite difference in terms of agility, Grealish has very quick feet and probably has better close control. An interesting aspect about Grealish is that when he has the ball he seems like studying the opponent’s feet and lower body status before making move.

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

Pogba was always considered a bigger talent than Tunnicliffe and Larnell Cole but Ravel Morrison was the clear standout. And i'm not sure many do criticise Mejbri. Many are just cautious in hyping youngsters too quickly that's all really.

There's one poster that goes to town on him anytime he gets so much as faint praise on here. In terms of Pogba, I'm not saying people thought he was talentless but in many ways, he was receiving the same criticisms as he gets now. Tunnicliffe was very much over-admired at the time because of his "Roy Keane" qualities. Not sure he had many of Keane's technical qualities to be honest. I also remember a lot of praise for Larnell Cole for his intelligence and he was a nice neat player in fairness.

 

[Rozay]

Pogba was always considered a bigger talent than Tunnicliffe and Larnell Cole but Ravel Morrison was the clear standout. And i'm not sure many do criticise Mejbri. Many are just cautious in hyping youngsters too quickly that's all really.

Don’t worry, if anyone praises Mejbri limerick will be along to provide ‘balance’ within minutes!

 

[city-puma]

There's one poster that goes to town on him anytime he gets so much as faint praise on here. In terms of Pogba, I'm not saying people thought he was talentless but in many ways, he was receiving the same criticisms as he gets now. Tunnicliffe was very much over-admired at the time because of his "Roy Keane" qualities. Not sure he had many of Keane's technical qualities to be honest. I also remember a lot of praise for Larnell Cole for his intelligence and he was a nice neat player in fairness.

In fairness, Keane is so unique and it’s probably really hard to find another one with the same level of mental strength and internal drive. I remember that game against Juventus in Turin. I thought why we conceded the soft goal whenever playing in Europe and felt we were on the way out again. Keano’s header was such a beauty!

 

[Adnan]

Don’t worry, if anyone praises Mejbri limerick will be along to provide ‘balance’ within minutes!

 

[Adnan]

Happy birthday to him, he's 18 now.

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

Don’t worry, if anyone praises Mejbri limerick will be along to provide ‘balance’ within minutes!

Yeah, and don't get me wrong, it does get frustrating when people demand the inclusion of the latest 16/17 year old who performs well in an U18 game into the match day squad but I think Hannibal is clearly quite special even amongst a good crop of youngsters. There are areas such as discipline and even perhaps consistency that he can clearly work on but my point above is that even a world class player like Pogba was criticised for the same at youth level. I just think Mejbri has quite rare characteristics that might make him very valuable to us when he matures over the next couple of years.

 

[Ekeke]

A dynamic holding midfielder is not a pure DM, in fact, a pure DM role has not been that important in modern football.
His running ability and intelligence is more important for a 18 years old youngster. He loves tracing back to help even when he plays an advanced role. Defensive ability is more about the positioning and game reading capability. I don’t think he cannot crack it by his football intelligence.
He seems having a good height already. Looks like at least 185cm. Can someone confirm his height?

He's not even half a DM. Bruno Fernandes is more defensive than he is

 

[Bertie Wooster]

I love a ball playing midfielder and Hannibal has quickly become one of my favourites to watch at youth level (up there with Pogba).
He's still got plenty to work on - he's very slight and needs to improve his temperament and desire to earn the right to play in midfield rather than expecting it and complaining when opponents foul / out muscle him. But, hopefully, that will come with experience - he's already shown improvement with it this season - and, at this stage, what's more important is his skill and vision and great attacking midfield potential. Obviously he's also got to improve the consistency of his decision making and end product but, again, that will also hopefully come with experience and he's already got plenty of positives and potential.

 

[limerickcitykid]

Don’t worry, if anyone praises Mejbri limerick will be along to provide ‘balance’ within minutes!

If anyone claims he should be in the first team then I provide balance. When people claim he was amazing despite being shit then sure I provide balance. When he has a good game against Leicester and people praise then I agree, just like how I praised him myself.

Don’t worry I’ll post hyperbolic bullshit about how amazing he is, that’ll satisfy you.

 

[Rozay]

If anyone claims he should be in the first team then I provide balance. When people claim he was amazing despite being shit then sure I provide balance. When he has a good game against Leicester and people praise then I agree, just like how I praised him myself.

Don’t worry I’ll post hyperbolic bullshit about how amazing he is, that’ll satisfy you.

Okay limerick.

 

[Ali Dia]

Happy birthday to him, he's 18 now.

Realistically we probably aren’t going to have an 18/19 year old getting enough games here to iron out the kinks and get stronger. I would be considering sending him out on loan at the start of next season.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

He reminds me of Grealish in many ways. Not particularly quick, very press resistant, somehow manages to retain the ball in the unlikeliest circumstances and has excellent vision. He gets a lot of stick on this forum, much of it is to do with his attitude but I don't see anyone else with his level of promise. I'm also old enough to remember very similar criticisms of Pogba when he was playing for the youth teams and people were raving about Ravel, Tunnicliffe and even Larnell Cole.

Grealish is deceptively fast. He just doesn’t waste energy when the ball can do the work. His early releases last night caught City’s defence flat-footed a few times

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

Thanks for that video, that was a great watch.

 

[AltiUn]

He reminds me of Grealish in many ways. Not particularly quick, very press resistant, somehow manages to retain the ball in the unlikeliest circumstances and has excellent vision. He gets a lot of stick on this forum, much of it is to do with his attitude but I don't see anyone else with his level of promise. I'm also old enough to remember very similar criticisms of Pogba when he was playing for the youth teams and people were raving about Ravel, Tunnicliffe and even Larnell Cole.

He really doesn't get stick at all, anyone with a working set of eyes can see he's very good. But people were calling for him in the first team, even last season, when he has some very obvious kinks to work out before we think about putting him in the first team, if anything people have been going overboard with praise.

I think he's probably the most talented player we've got in the U23s at the moment but the way people talk about him is setting up some very unrealistic expectations for him relative to his actual ability, that's why the wildly exaggerated praise/hype needs to be cooled, our fanbase has absolutely no patience for youth players, just look at how quickly people have turned on Greenwood. When he has a poor game people can and should comment on it, just like when he has a good game, like against Leicester, he deserves praise for it.

 

[Adnan]

Realistically we probably aren’t going to have an 18/19 year old getting enough games here to iron out the kinks and get stronger. I would be considering sending him out on loan at the start of next season.

I saw some Derby fans on Twitter saying they'll be signing Mejbri on loan. That information hasn't been corroborated by anyone half reliable but a move to Derby under Rooney would in theory be good for him for obvious reasons.

 

[Ali Dia]

I saw some Derby fans on Twitter saying they'll be signing Mejbri on loan. That information hasn't been corroborated by anyone half reliable but a move to Derby under Rooney would in theory be good for him for obvious reasons.

now you’re talking. I’d try and loan more than one to Rooney if we could. I feel like Pellistri Hannibal and Teden M would be solid players for most teams down the leagues during this window if we were willing to let them go. I hope we keep improving the way we approach the loan system. With all the young foreign talent that’s come in we probably need an additional outlet for competitive games.

 

[Alemar]

If anyone claims he should be in the first team then I provide balance.

we need to select players in the first team not on age, but on merit: is Mejbri now significantly worse than VDB? If he is significantly worse, than of course he doesn’t have a chance here now because we are quite packed in the middle...

 

[AltiUn]

we need to select players in the first team not on age, but on merit: is Mejbri now significantly worse than VDB? If he is significantly worse, than of course he doesn’t have a chance here now because we are quite packed in the middle...

Well, van de Beek has placed in the Ballon d'Or rankings so yes, I think it's safe to say Mejbri is significantly worse than van de Beek.

 

[Adam-Utd]

I saw some Derby fans on Twitter saying they'll be signing Mejbri on loan. That information hasn't been corroborated by anyone half reliable but a move to Derby under Rooney would in theory be good for him for obvious reasons.

That would be very good! no idea if Rooney is any good as a coach but they share a similar fiery style on the pitch.

He's definitely ready for championship football IMO, it's a shame we haven't had any easy cup runs either as I'd like to see him get minutes off the bench.

 

[Alemar]

That would be very good! no idea if Rooney is any good as a coach but they share a similar fiery style on the pitch.

Even if Rooney proves to be poor coach, for as long as he starts Mejbri, the kid will be getting experience

 

[TheNewEra]

Thought he put in a good performance today.

 

[Adnan]

He was excellent and heavily involved in most of our goals. He even managed to come deep at the base of midfield to play a lovely switch ball which started the sequence for one of the goals.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

If Kaide Gordon leaves Derby, then Mej could get some game time

 

[Bertie Wooster]

He clearly has plenty of ability and potential and is the kind of player who, if he has the right attitude to improve, and is coach and handled well, has enough to make it at first team level with us.

There's absolutely no guarantee that will happen, of course, but if he doesn't make it then it won't be for want of ability and potential.

 

[Bebestation]

What type of midfielder is he?

Is he a ball winner, a deep lying playmaker, is he a pure CM with energy or is he a CM that likes to pass the ball around? Is he an AM?

 

[Adnan]

What type of midfielder is he?

Is he a ball winner, a deep lying playmaker, is he a pure CM with energy or is he a CM that likes to pass the ball around? Is he an AM?

He has the traits to be all those things you've stated rolled into one player. But I'd say he will be a creative midfielder in the #8 role long term. He's technically very strong, is creative and is also a good dribbler for a midfield player and plays with high energy/work rate.

 

[Invictus]

 

[Bebestation]

He has the traits to be all those things you've stated rolled into one player. But I'd say he will be a creative midfielder in the #8 role long term. He's technically very strong, is creative and is also a good dribbler for a midfield player and plays with high energy/work rate.

Could he do what Pogba does for us as a CM?

 

[Ekeke]

Could he do what Pogba does for us as a CM?

He could but without Pogba's strength and ability to help defend set pieces in the air. Can play the passes or take on a player. But hes decent at finishing his chances as well so he might want to be used further forward

 

[Robbie Boy]

If Kaide Gordon leaves Derby, then Mej could get some game time

Gordon is off to Liverpool and has played like one game. Him leaving will have zero effect on Mejbri, either way.

 

[Bebestation]

He could but without Pogba's strength and ability to help defend set pieces in the air. Can play the passes or take on a player. But hes decent at finishing his chances as well so he might want to be used further forward

Yeah I hope someone like Hannibal can come and provide the passes or tempo to our team (obviously he is too young to play like Scholes from off but he maybe develops late to a passer)

A new CDM should be able to cover the defensive sides and heading that we might lose from Pogba.