Stéphane Mbia
Who is he? Stéphane Mbia is a defensive player from
Cameroon. I say defensive, as he is so versatile. He is one of the hottest prospects to come out of
Cameroon, and the hottest prospect in Ligue One side
Rennes too, leaving both country and club working together nurturing his talent. He is one of the tallest players in Ligue One, at 6'2" he stands way above 90% of his competitors. He is coming up to being 22 years old, just ineligible to play for
Cameroon U21's, his capabilities are attracting scouts from all over major clubs in Europe, some in England too. He has been at
Rennes since 2003, and has been reasonably happy there. He is an enthusiastic player, who if the right move came in would join a bigger club without any really hard thought, but he keeps that quiet and is proud to be a member of the
Rennes first team squad. He can speak fluent English, as he learnt it as a child... only of the lucky ones in
Cameroon to be fortunate enough to be educated, he then learnt French by a tutor when a French scout took him aboard the
Rennes Ranks as a trialist. Stéphane earns £6,500 a week, although he earns just under a quarter of that by making an appearance, he has a yearly wage rise of 15%, and his contract expires in mid 2010.
Where can he play? Stéphane is a very good defensive player. Naturally born, he is a Defensive Midfielder, although he is just as good as a Centre Back or a Centre Midfielder. There is an opportunity to allow him to play as a wing or right back, and even an Attacking Midfielder, but I would not recommend this, as he is not strongest there.
This is my
Rennes team, I play him here, in the heart of our half, where he is one of the leading and most important players on the pitch, despite being 21 years of age. He is able to cut out passes, control the ball and set up attacking moves, he also has a taste for long range power blasts, which on the odd occasion tend to rocket into the net. If you design your own training schedules, I’d recommend putting him as a
Defensive Midfielder schedule, no matter where you play him, as he tends to cover the whole of his back line as well as his duties of where he is playing.
Why Should I Sign Him? For the rest of the review + scheldules + lots more great reviews, click here. Review by Lineo at Pitch-Side!
