Emmanuel Longelo Mbule (born 27 December 2000) 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 le ...

who plays as a

left 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

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. Longelo began his career with

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

and played first-team football in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

and the

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 ...

before joining Birmingham City, initially

on loan In sports, a loan involves a particular player being able to temporarily play for a club other than the one to which they are currently contracted. Loan deals may last from a few weeks to a full season, sometimes persisting for multiple seasons ...

, in 2022.

Club career

Longelo started playing

Sunday league football Sunday league football is a term used in Britain and Ireland to describe the amateur association football competitions which take place on Sunday rather than the more usual Saturday. The term pub league may also be used, owing to the number of ...

as a nine-year old for Euro Dagenham. He joined

's under-10 side playing as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and scored five goals on his debut, against

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 ...

. Due to his pace he was moved to play as a striker. Playing for West Ham's under-23 team, Longelo played as a

left-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 ...

. On 21 September 2020, Longelo made his debut for West Ham in a 5–1

win against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

. He joined

on a season-long loan on 30 August 2022. After recovering from injuries suffered earlier in the season, he made his debut on 1 October, starting at left wing-back in a 1–1 draw away to

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

leaders

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. In a 2–0 win over

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

on 28 October, he "received the ball on the left, twisted and turned past

Ethan Laird Ethan Benjamin Laird (born 5 August 2001) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, right-back for club Birmingham City F.C., Birmingham City. Laird is a graduate of Ma ...

and then found the bottom-right corner with a low curling finish" to score his first senior goal, and later gave away a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

which was saved by

John Ruddy John Thomas Gordon Ruddy (born 24 October 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Birmingham City. Ruddy began his career at Cambridge United, before signing for Everton as a 19-year-old. He spent five ...

. Longelo signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Birmingham City on 31 January 2023. The fee, officially undisclosed, was reported by '' football.london'' as £400,000.

Personal life

Longelo was born in

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

, London, and is of Congolese descent. His older brother, Rosaire, played alongside him at West Ham before joining

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 ...

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longelo, Emmanuel 2000 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham People from Barking, London English men's footballers Men's association football defenders West Ham United F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players English Football League players English people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Black British sportsmen