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7 months ago
42 Manchester United are already thinking about opening contract talks with Willy Kambwala. The young defender has impressed when called upon this season, with a stellar performance on his first start for the club against title-chasing Liverpool.
The young French centre-back is one of the beneficiaries of United’s depleted defence. It has granted Kambwala a golden opportunity to get minutes in the first team under Erik ten Hag, who is without an array of defenders for the end-of-the-season run-in.
United are currently without players such as Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelof, Jonny Evans and Lisandro Martinez. It means the manager only has Kambwala and Harry Maguire fit, with both expected to start in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Coventry City.
Mark Critchley from The Athletic claims United want to keep Kambwala at the club for the foreseeable future. The 18-year-old, who was a boyhood United fan, will soon enter the last year of his contract (2025) at Old Trafford. There is no option to extend it for another season
The insightful report from Critchley, a well-respected writer, looks at Kambwala’s journey from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Manchester. His family moved to Les Ulis in southern France when he was five years ago and he took his first steps in the local Club Omnisports Les Ulis. The same club players such as Thierry Henry, Anthony Martial and Patrice Evra started their careers.
We also learned that former United left-back Evra is in regular contact with Kambwala to offer the youngster advice. It’s a big bonus for such a young player to be receiving regular snippets of advice from a club legend.
Critchley reports: “One of Kambwala’s representatives, Tshimen Buhanga, is a coach at Les Ulis and a close friend of Evra’s, and the former United left-back is a regular source of guidance and advice.”
It makes sense to tie down Kambwala if United have high hopes for the defender and we can all see why Ten Hag rates him.
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