Aaron Wan-Bissaka (born 26 November 1997) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for club

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. Wan-Bissaka began his career with

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

and was named as the club's

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

for the 2018–19 season. In 2019, he moved to Manchester United for an initial fee of £45 million, with another £5 million due in potential bonuses. He is of Congolese descent and made one appearance for DR Congo under-20s in 2015. He has gone on to represent the country of his birth, England, at under-20 and under-21 levels.

Early life

Wan-Bissaka was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, Greater London and grew up in

New Addington New Addington is a town in South London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is located 5 miles south east of Croydon, south of Addington Village and north of Biggin Hill. History Until the 1930s, the area now known as New Addingt ...

, Croydon, where he attended Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School.

Club career

Crystal Palace

Wan-Bissaka was a member of the

academy from the age of 11, where he started out as a winger. He signed a professional contract with the club in December 2016. On the 2017 pre-season tour, Wan-Bissaka began to feature with the Palace first team under new manager

Frank de Boer Franciscus de Boer (; born 15 May 1970) is a Dutch football manager who was most recently the head coach of the Netherlands national team. A former defender, De Boer spent most of his professional playing career with Ajax, winning five Eredi ...

, playing in a number of friendlies. The Dutchman played a formation with wing-backs, and this new role emphasised Wan-Bissaka's defensive capabilities, eventually leading to him moving from a winger to a full-back. However, he saw chances limited in the first half of the season as De Boer showed a preference to play

Timothy Fosu-Mensah Evans Timothy Fosu Fosu-Mensah (born 2 January 1998) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder, centre-back or full-back for Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen and the Netherlands national team. He formerly played for ...

or Martin Kelly at right-back, then new manager Roy Hodgson favoured Joel Ward. He was an unused substitute a few times under the new manager, while also starring for the Eagles U23 side. On 25 February 2018, Wan-Bissaka made his first-team debut for Crystal Palace, in the midst of an injury crisis, in a

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

match against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst in the London Borough of Croydon which is the home ground of Premier League side Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted international footba ...

which resulted in a 1–0 defeat. He played all but two minutes of the four Palace matches in March, and won the club's Player of the Month award with 65% of the supporters' votes. On 20 August 2018, Wan-Bissaka was sent off in a 2–0 loss to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

for denying

Mohamed Salah Mohamed Salah Hamed Mahrous Ghaly ( ar, محمد صلاح حامد محروس غالي, ; born 15 June 1992), also known as Mo Salah, is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Liverpool and captains the Egypt ...

a clear goalscoring opportunity. He was named the club's Player of the Month for August, September, October and March. On 30 April 2019, Wan-Bissaka was named the Crystal Palace Player of the Year for his displays throughout the season.

Manchester United

On 29 June 2019, Wan-Bissaka signed a five-year contract with fellow Premier League club

. Crystal Palace would receive an initial fee of £45 million, with another £5 million due in potential bonuses. Upon signing for Manchester United, Wan-Bissaka became the sixth-most expensive defender of all time and the most expensive English player who was uncapped by the national side at the time of transfer. On 11 August 2019, he made his Manchester United debut, playing the full 90 minutes in a 4–0 league victory over

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. At the end of his first season at Manchester United, he made the highest number of tackles in the 2019–20 Premier League season. On 17 October 2020, as United won 4–1 at

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, he scored the first goal of his professional career. On 2 February 2021, Wan-Bissaka scored the opening goal in United's Premier League record-equalling 9–0 win over

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

International career

Wan-Bissaka was born in England and is of Congolese descent. Wan-Bissaka made a single appearance for DR Congo U20s in an 8–0 friendly loss to the England U17s on 7 October 2015. However, he remained eligible to represent the country of his birth and, after impressing for Crystal Palace, Wan-Bissaka was called up to the England under-20 squad in March 2018. He was sent off during his debut against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, although England still won 1–0. Wan-Bissaka was called up to the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

squad for the first time in September 2018 and made his debut for them on 6 September, playing 90 minutes in a 0–0 draw with the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

at Carrow Road. On 27 May 2019, Wan-Bissaka was included in England's 23-man squad for the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. He made one appearance in the tournament, a 2–1 loss against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, in which he scored an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

. Despite interest from DR Congo, Wan-Bissaka said in May 2019 that he intended to pursue an international career with England, stating: "The aim is England. I am happy playing with England and representing England, so that is what I am going to continue doing". In August 2019, Wan-Bissaka received his first call-up to the senior England team, ahead of

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

qualifiers against

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, but was forced to withdraw from the squad due to a back injury. Since the injury withdrawal in 2019, Aaron Wan-Bissaka has found himself competing with the likes of

Kyle Walker Kyle Andrew Walker (born 28 May 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Manchester City and the England national team. Walker started his career at his boyhood club Sheffield United which he had join ...

Trent Alexander-Arnold Trent John Alexander-Arnold (born 7 October 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Liverpool and the England national team. Known for his range of passing, crossing and assists, he is regarded as one o ...

Kieran Trippier Kieran John Trippier (; born 19 September 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Newcastle United and the England national team. Trippier started his career in the youth system at Manchester City but ...

and

Reece James Reece James may refer to: * Reece James (footballer, born 1993), English footballer born in Bacup, Lancashire * Reece James (footballer, born 1999), English footballer born in Redbridge, London See also * James Reece (disambiguation) * Rhys James ...

, as for the result of his faltering performance, he has several times expressed his desire to represent his ancestral

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, and media speculation has also supported the claim of his potential nationality switch, even though he has not done so by 2022.

Style of play

Wan-Bissaka is primarily a defensively minded right-back, known for his pace, slide tackling and ability in one-on-one defensive duels. He was described as the "best one-on-one defender for a full-back in the world" by

Jamie Carragher James Lee Duncan Carragher (; born 28 January 1978) is an English football pundit and former footballer who played as a defender for Premier League club Liverpool during a career which spanned 17 years. A one-club man, he was Liverpool's vic ...

in 2020. In the 2019–20 Premier League season Wan-Bissaka made the joint-highest number of tackles, level with Wilfred Ndidi on 129.

Personal life

In December 2021, Wan-Bissaka was given a six-month driving ban and a £31,500 fine by Leeds Magistrates Court for driving while disqualified and uninsured, and for not giving driver details about two speeding offences. His lawyers said that he was unaware of his offending, as he had not registered his new address with the

DVLA The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA; cy, Asiantaeth Trwyddedu Gyrwyr a Cherbydau) is the organisation of the UK government responsible for maintaining a database of drivers in Great Britain and a database of vehicles for the entire ...

Career statistics

Honours

Manchester United *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

runner-up:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Individual *

Young Player of the Year: 2017–18 * Crystal Palace Player of the Year: 2018–19 *UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season:

References

External links

Profile
at the Manchester United F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wan-Bissaka, Aaron 1997 births Living people Footballers from Croydon Democratic Republic of the Congo footballers Democratic Republic of the Congo under-20 international footballers English footballers England youth international footballers England under-21 international footballers Association football defenders Crystal Palace F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Premier League players English sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Black British sportsmen