In just two years Johan Manzambi has gone from being an unknown teenager to a European star. The 20-year-old could be named young talent of the year at the Ballon d'Or ceremony next month having only made his senior debut for Freiburg in 2024. A breakout season in Germany last term convinced Villa to pay more than £50m for a player with just 47 club starts.
Manzambi scored on his full Villa debut to help secure a first Premier League win of the season and now faces Scotland with Switzerland in the Nations League on Tuesday looking to continue his progression. Vega hails Yakin and Manzambi as Swiss head for Hampden Villa complete club record Manzambi signing Manzambi is already in the discussion with fellow nominees Lamine Yamal of Barcelona, Real Madrid's Yan Diomande and new Manchester City midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi for the best young player in the world award. He scored three goals in four games for Switzerland at the World Cup before a knee injury ended his tournament, only a year after making his full international debut.
It is a rapid rise for a player who used to return to Freiburg's academy to do his washing. Bernhard Weis, who gave Manzambi his debut for Freiburg Under-19s, told BBC Sport: "He is playing for the professionals and he comes to us at the academy and brings some dirty clothes. "He didn't have a washing machine so he comes here and washes some clothes.
"I would speak with him and then he would pick up some young guys from the under-13s, under-14s and take them to the train station. "He would see the guys and say, 'come with me, I'll take you to the station', so they could get home. That's Johan Manzambi." As for his profile, though, Weis did not expect a Ballon d'Or nomination coming so quickly.
He added: "I didn't see that. I saw something for the first team, for us, but this way, no chance. "The first half year at Freiburg it was not so easy for him, he's not so strong and he's not so stable.
He put on five kilos and then he thought, 'now I go, it's the right moment, I will be faster and stronger'. Massimo Lombardo, Servette's academy director agreed. He first worked with Manzambi when he was 15 and oversaw his early development before he moved to Freiburg as a 17-year-old in 2023.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
