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Kevin Mbabu (now playing for VfL Wolfsburg)

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  • 2 months later...
LoveItIfWeBeatU

LoveItIfWeBeatU

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https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/kevin-mbabu-learning-mistakes-relationship-16488511

 

Kevin Mbabu on learning from his mistakes, his relationship with Rafa Benitez, and his Newcastle United exit

Exclusive: Former full-back Kevin Mbabu opens up about his time at Newcastle United and how he learned from his mistakes

 

By Andrew Musgrove

18:00, 28 JUN 2019

 

Softly spoken, yet confident and stern - former Newcastle United full-back Kevin Mbabu talks through his last few years with Young Boys in the Swiss top-flight.

 

From the wilderness of the reserves at Newcastle to back-to-back league titles and Champions League football at Young Boys, as well as breaking into the Swiss national side, it’s been quite the turnaround for the 24-year-old.

 

His talent, something United fans never really got to see in his five appearances, has earned him player of the year, and a move to one of the biggest clubs in Germany - Wolfsburg.

 

Yet despite a joyous three years back in his home country, there’s a real sense that Mbabu wants to get something off his chest, wants to tell not only his side of want happened at Newcastle but also to highlight the mistakes, and recovery, of a youngster leaving home comforts to play the Premier League.

 

"It was amazing to sign for Newcastle because one of my dreams was to go to England and play for a Premier League team. I was very, very excited about it," Mbabu told ChronicleLive.

 

"But at the time I didn't know how much I would have to put in to become a professional footballer because before I signed for Newcastle I was at Servette and maybe their biggest prospect - so everything would come easy.

 

"Coming to England made me realise that if I want to reach my goal I would have to work hard, and that is something I didn't fully realise at the beginning."

 

Having turned down Arsenal 18 months before, Mbabu was wary of leaving home too soon, but he arrived on Tyneside in January 2013 as a 17-year-old, moving in with a host family before getting a place himself.

 

Mbabu was instantly recognised - even on his first day he was being asked for photos and having good luck messages from fans in the street.

 

A scattering of appearances in the development squad were stunted by injuries which plagued his time at Newcastle, and looking back Mbabu admits he made mistakes.

 

"I was just a young lad thrown into a big city - I was with a host family for six months and then I started living by myself," he added.

 

"I got injured, my first big injury, and that is when you stay at home.

 

"You're watching your team-mates training and playing - that was a pretty tough time. You are in kind of a bad cycle, it's hard to get out of it.

 

"It is difficult to keep positive, especially when all your friends and family are away.

 

"You just go home and you're by yourself, no one to talk to.

 

"But I always told myself: 'Newcastle bought me for a reason - so I will have to keep fighting until I can resolve everything'."

 

Mbabu worked his way back to full fitness, and was part of the infamous five who headed to Rangers on loan in January 2015 - only to see Kenny McDowall sacked as manager.

 

Accusations of Mbabu being unfit were thrown as he did not make a single first-team appearance, but the full-back still saw the positives in his short spell at Ibrox - playing a series of games for the first time in nearly 12 months for the reserves.

 

"It was a period where I had a lot injuries," he said. "They told me that I would have the chance to play first-team football in Scotland, I was ready to go.

 

"I'd had so much time off from football in the past months, so to go away, discover a new place and get some first-team experience [was a great opportunity].

 

"The manager who signed us left two or three weeks later, that was suprising.

 

"A new manager came in - new manager, new ideas. I didn't play, but the positives? For the first time I played almost 15 games in a row with the reserves and that was something I hadn't done for almost a year.

 

"I was happy that I was able to do that. It was a long time since I'd played regularly without injuries."

 

Mbabu returned to Tyneside and with a full pre-season under his belt was in the search for first-team football.

 

With Pardew long gone, and interim manager John Carver shown the door - Newcastle turned to Steve McClaren. While often criticised for being a poor manager, McClaren is routinely praised for his ability as a coach.

 

Mbabu admits he'll never forget McClaren because he was the 'only one' who believed in him at Newastle.

 

Within just weeks of the 2015/16 campaign kicking-off, the former England manager turned to Mbabu for a League Cup clash against Sheffield Wednesday.

 

It marked what should have been a turning point in his career - just six weeks before Mbabu claims the club tried to send him on loan to Gateshead, he refused and now was in the first-team squad.

 

He came off the bench against the Owls at half-time, and was a positive in an otherwise dire third-round game in which United were, almost inevitably, dumped out.

 

That appearance was followed a few days later with his full debut against Chelsea at St James' Park - a surprise to him, and his family, with his mother and sister having watched him turn out in the League Cup, having to leave their bags already checked in at the airport to rush back for the game.

 

His performance earned him praises for pundits, and fans alike, who applauded as he kept Pedro and Eden Hazard quiet in the 2-2 draw.

 

"I only found out one hour before the game started that I was starting," he revealed.

 

"I was stressed for the first time in my life before a football game because I was about to discover the Premier League, and play against big players like Pedro and Eden Hazard.

 

"I was asking myself how I was going to perform against players like this!

 

"I was a little bit scared in case I didn't play well but in the end, everything went well and I had a great game.

 

"It was amazing. I told myself 'today, it's me playing in-front of 52,000 fans and I will try and give everything'.

 

"The atmosphere was amazing because we scored the first goal. I will never forget the noise; it was sensational. I was telling myself 'wow, they sing for the team, they sing for me'. It gives you that little bit of strength, that extra metre to go and block that shot, or to go and do something good for the team.

 

"It really was amazing, after that game I was like 'wow, I want to play for Newcastle all my life'."

 

The reaction to his performance spiralled out of control - and attention came from across the world. The attention got the better of full-back - something he's open about.

 

Mbabu at this point of the interview pauses, he voice tinged with a sense of regret.

 

"The day after in Switzerland everybody was talking about it. It was a tough week for me because I had a lot of messages and calls from journalists, and it was difficult to manage that.

 

"It was discovering a new world. At that point I was replying to everybody, I was always on my phone and focusing more on what happened the days before rather than recovering and getting ready for the what was to come - the week after, I got injured again."

 

A hamstring problem ruled him out for three games, before he appeared for just a minute against Bournemouth in what would turn out to be McClaren's last game in charge, with Newcastle 19th in the league.

 

Rafa Benitez took over and, while there was a wave of excitement across Tyneside, Mbabu felt differently.

 

"I felt sidelined straight away," he said. "I could feel it straight away. There was a game when Vurnon Anita got injured and I was about to come on then he said 'no'.

 

"I think Jonjo Shelvey came on and he put Moussa Sissoko at right back - since that moment, I knew that my time at Newcastle was finished. In that moment it was very, very difficult because I didn't see that coming.

 

"I was ready to come on, so it was really difficult to take. For the next two or three days I was really bad in my head."

 

Benitez failed to keep Newcastle up, and the club were relegated to the Championship - something Mbabu admits surprised him given the team had 'a lot of potential' - as shown with Moussa Sissoko and Gini Wijnaldum's appearances in the Champions League final earlier this month.

 

Mbabu was at a loss; demoted to the reserves by a phone-call, only weeks after signing a new deal, and just hours after training with the first team and sharing pleasantries with Benitez.

 

He returned to Switzerland and it brought a change in his lifestyle and diet - as Mbabu went on a total rethink of his approach to football.

 

Despite a couple of little knocks, Mbabu has turned out 101 times for Young Boys over the last three seasons, helping them to their first league title in 32 years - breaking the dominance of Basel.

 

"I realised when I came back to Switzerland that your lifestyle is almost more important than what you do on the pitch because the recovery and what you eat is very important," he said.

 

"I realised that at the end of my time at Newcastle and really changed almost everything that I was doing when I was off the pitch, and my life on the pitch changed; my performances were better, I could recover faster and I could perform every three or four days without any problem."

 

The back-to-back titles have left the Young Boys side described as 'legends', with Mbabu labelling the success as a 'amazing'.

 

Mbabu named as league player of the year for 2018 followed by an international cap and that move to the Bundesliga has capped off a fantastic few years.

 

"For me it was another amazing season, especially after I played my first game for the national team - that was one of my dreams as a kid," he added.

 

"It was a very good season - Champions League and national team, it brings a lot of experience, and I think this time I leave Switzerland as a man not as a kid like when I went to Newcastle."

 

Mbabu is excited to get started in Germany, inspired by the project and 'ambitious' nature of the manager and board, but admits he'll always keep any eye out on Newcastle.

 

"I always watched for the results and the news about it! I still have friends there, and a WhatsApp group with some Newcastle players and we keep in touch sometimes.

 

"I will always follow Newcastle because it was such a big part of my life.

 

"I had so many good memories, all my five appearances were just an amazing feeling and I would have loved to have played a lot more games for the club.

 

"I see all the messages on Twitter, fans saying 'NUFC should never have let him go' - I always see those messages, it's really nice to know that even with just five appears for the club they still remember me and follow me.

 

"I never expected that, I felt I didn't have that much impact but for them it seems I did.

 

"It was sad the way it ended but maybe I needed this in my life to come back on the right path to where I am today."

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Conjo

Conjo

Posted
Posted

It's easy to say he should never have been sold. I've probably said it on here as one of few critisisms towards Rafa as well, but at such a young age, something like that can often be the leading factor to why he turned it around and became good. Not certain at all that he would have developed as he has with Young Boys if he stayed at Newcastle.

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  • 1 year later...
TRon

TRon

Posted
Posted
On 19/04/2019 at 12:07, Greg said:

Had a shocking attitude and was always on the drink. 

Can only assume this must be true otherwise I still can't fathom how he was sold after looking a million dollars on his debut in front of the cameras. 

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