Axel Tuanzebe
Axel Tuanzebe
Date of Birth: 14 November 1997
Current Club: Burnley.
Previous Clubs: Ipswich Town, Manchester United.
Loan Clubs: Stoke City, Napoli, Aston Villa.
International: DR Congo 3 appearances.
Trophies Won: N/A.
Tuanzebe spent the early part of his career at Man Utd struggling badly with injuries, something he is now taking them to court over. The 27 year old is seeking redress over what is alleged to be clinical negligence over the medical advice he received from the club. The injuries certainly had a major negative impact on his career, so it is understandable he is seeking redress if he believes the club had given him poor advice.
As a youngster, he looked to have an extremely bright future ahead of him, a trio of loan spells to Villa and a loan spell to Napoli showed how highly rated he was. However, his career hit a downward trajectory and, instead of looking like a future defensive lynchpin for United, he now looks like a player who is only just Premier League quality. This being a player that had captained the Red Devils all the way through the youth ranks, stepped up and looked assured, composed and like he belonged, to now end up jobbing around newly promoted Prem teams.
It is a career many of us would love to be able to boast about, but for a player who had burst onto the scene, had shut down Mbappe when facing PSG, it feels like a massive anticlimax. Perhaps he will be able to establish himself as a steady Premier League pro, if he can avoid more injuries, but it is hard to believe that he can go any further. Tuanzebe does still have his strengths, he is fast and strong, technically sound and can cover full-back, centre-back and defensive midfield positions, or rather has done in the past.
The injuries have robbed him of a little of his pace and he is also not as dominant a defender as he was, he can no longer stick to an opponent like a limpet as they can twist and turn tighter, usually. Instead Tuanzebe uses his strength to lean on opponents and force them to go where he wants to, however, that lack of dominance does give attackers a chance. There is also an issue with his defending being very reactive, responding to what is happening without anticipating anything.
He does respond very quickly, his reaction time is impressive and he has still got excellent pace, but he is giving up a bit of space to give himself time to react. He is decent in the air, but he is not the tallest and so can struggle aerially when playing at centre-back. Up against the bigger, more powerful attackers, he can also be bullied.
On the ball, Tuanzebe is technically sound, a good first touch and decent passing range, but nothing special. Good enough to play full-back regularly, but not to be a long-term option in a defensive midfield role. His long range passing lacks accuracy. Overall, a decent enough player for a promoted side, but he is unlikely to ever amount to much more than that now. Well unless Hungry Hippos becomes a competitive sport, there he has a real future.
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