http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-united-new-boy-chancel-9708395
good article, and nice to see his determination
When Chancel Mbemba first broke into the first team at Anderlecht as a teenager, he got into a nightly routine.
At 10pm, after watching a movie as part of his ongoing attempts to master conversational French, he would slip out of his apartment near the beautiful Astrid Park in Brussels in disguise.
With a hat pulled tight over his head and dressed in dark clothes to blend in with the late-evening crowds – and long after team-mates had gone to bed or hit the cafes or bars of the Belgian capital – he would embark on a series of punishing shuttle runs, a brutal regime that he credits partly with sharpening the electric pace which caught Newcastle’s eye.
His explanation? “Without work,” he reflected in a 2013 interview, “we get nowhere. I devote all my spare time to training.”
This little anecdote is just a sub-plot in the first few remarkable chapters in Mbemba’s incredible life story. Like his former team-mate Aleksandar Mitrovic, the central defender arrives on Tyneside via the route less travelled.
Mbemba will be announced as a Newcastle player either on Thursday or early Friday, Newcastle having beaten competition from Borussia Monchengladbach and Atletico Madrid to the £8.5million man’s signing. But he is no ordinary summer capture.
His progression from street football in the dusty streets of war-torn Kinshasa to the Premier League is a remarkable one – an incredible story of resilience, hard work, determination and drive.
One of eight siblings – his mother was a professional basketball player – Mbemba’s dedication is partly explained by seeing football as a route out of potential poverty. “We were very, very poor,” he has said of his background in Congo. But if there was not money or a formal education, there was certainly drive instilled in Mbemba from an early age.
“Even though my mom was a professional basketball player, a member of the national team of Congo, she always encouraged me to play football,” he told L’Avenir.
“Today, everything I do is for my parents but also my four sisters and four brothers. I have the chance to make a career as a top athlete and I to help my family. Only after doing that will I think of myself.”
With a hat pulled tight over his head and dressed in dark clothes to blend in with the late-evening crowds – and long after team-mates had gone to bed or hit the cafes or bars of the Belgian capital – he would embark on a series of punishing shuttle runs, a brutal regime that he credits partly with sharpening the electric pace which caught Newcastle’s eye.
His explanation? “Without work,” he reflected in a 2013 interview, “we get nowhere. I devote all my spare time to training.”
This little anecdote is just a sub-plot in the first few remarkable chapters in Mbemba’s incredible life story. Like his former team-mate Aleksandar Mitrovic, the central defender arrives on Tyneside via the route less travelled.
Mbemba will be announced as a Newcastle player either on Thursday or early Friday, Newcastle having beaten competition from Borussia Monchengladbach and Atletico Madrid to the £8.5million man’s signing. But he is no ordinary summer capture.
His progression from street football in the dusty streets of war-torn Kinshasa to the Premier League is a remarkable one – an incredible story of resilience, hard work, determination and drive.
One of eight siblings – his mother was a professional basketball player – Mbemba’s dedication is partly explained by seeing football as a route out of potential poverty. “We were very, very poor,” he has said of his background in Congo. But if there was not money or a formal education, there was certainly drive instilled in Mbemba from an early age.
“Even though my mom was a professional basketball player, a member of the national team of Congo, she always encouraged me to play football,” he told L’Avenir.
“Today, everything I do is for my parents but also my four sisters and four brothers. I have the chance to make a career as a top athlete and I to help my family. Only after doing that will I think of myself.”
Faith is one constant in his life. He claims that when he first arrived in Congo it was praying, rather than an operation, which healed a troublesome back injury.
“It helps me tremendously,” he says.
“I pray every day and I go to a Catholic church every weekend. During my first months in Anderlecht, I suffered a serious back injury. The doctor spoke of an operation but I did not want to hear about it. By dint of prayers and the help of (club) physiotherapist Jochen De Coene, the pain disappeared.”
His rise has not been without controversy. Mbemba has four birthdays: his first two clubs in the Congo had his birth year as 1988 but when he played for Congo in 2011, he was registered as having been born in 1991.
Anderlecht have registered his birth year as 1994 – hence his age of 21.
United are said to be relaxed about the controversy, and Mbemba has dismissed the allegations as “defamatory” and made up. “I have given evidence to Anderlecht to make sure they’re not taking any risks,” he has said of the controversy.
“I even passed scientific tests to determine my exact age. In Africa, when people do not have money, they are ready to invent anything to make money.”
His appeal to Newcastle is clear: his experience at Champions League level makes him a cut above the other defenders out there.
His pace and power are complimented by extraordinary technique for a defender. Strong in the air and with excellent acceleration, Newcastle see a player who will get better and better. And they like his attitude and desire to get better, too.
Another quirky story reveals more about his determination to avoid the trappings of football fame and fortune.
He says: “When I am done with professional football, I want to become an electrician. God gave me a gift for manual trades, it must bear fruit.”
If he lights up St James’ Park this year, few will be complaining about the Kinshasa kid-come-good.
