Hannibal Mejbri ( ar, حَنِّبَعْل المجبري; born 21 January 2003) is a 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

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 ...

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 ...

, on loan from 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 ...

, and the Tunisia national team. Mejbri joined the Manchester United youth system in 2019 from

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fre ...

. He had previously spent time at the Clairefontaine academy. He made his senior debut for the club in a Premier League game in May 2021. Born in France to Tunisian parents, Mejbri represented his birth country at under-16 and under-17 levels. He made his senior international debut for Tunisia in 2021.

Early life

Mejbri was born in

Ivry-sur-Seine Ivry-sur-Seine () is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Paris's main Asian district, the Quartier Asiatique in the 13th arrondissement, borders the co ...

(suburban

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

), France, and joined

Paris FC Paris Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional football club based in Paris, that competes in the Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Paris FC play their home matches at the Stade Ch ...

in 2009. In 2016, it was reported that he was being scouted by several English clubs, including

Manchester City 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 Salford to the west. The tw ...

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 ...

and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, and spent time on trial with the latter. He also spent time studying at the prestigious

INF Clairefontaine The INF Clairefontaine (""), INF, or simply Clairefontaine, is the national football centre that specialises in training French football players. The INF Clairefontaine is a section of the CNF Clairefontaine. The academy is one of thirteen '' ...

academy. His elder brother, Abderrahmen Mejbri, is the current sporting coach working in

Vietnam national football team The Vietnam national football team ( vi, Đội tuyển bóng đá quốc gia Việt Nam) represents the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in international football and is controlled by the Vietnam Football Federation, the governing body of footbal ...

and Pho Hien FC, a Vietnamese youth development club that Hannibal once visited and trained with.

Club career

Early career

Despite interest from English clubs, Mejbri had a short spell with

Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt or A.C.B.B. is a French sports club based in the suburbs of Paris in the commune of Boulogne-Billancourt. The club offers a variety of sports, but is primarily known for cycling, rugby union, judo, figure s ...

, before joining

in 2018 for a fee of €1 million. Although initially impressed by Monaco's youth development, Mejbri became disillusioned by the Monégasque club within a year of signing, with his parents claiming that the Ligue 1 side had breached contract agreements. In 2019, he was being tracked by clubs across Europe, including the German, French and Spanish champions,

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

respectively. Mejbri said that he was experiencing the "dark side of football" prior to signing with Manchester United and that he had not played football for nearly four months. Before signing, he was back home in Quartier des Amandiers and was training on his own with his sibling.

Manchester United

On 11 August 2019,

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 ...

side Manchester United announced on their website that they had reached an agreement with Monaco to sign Mejbri, with the youngster reportedly rejecting moves to other English clubs. The fee paid by the Manchester club was believed to be around €5 million, possibly rising to €10 million in add-ons. Mejbri settled quickly into Manchester United's youth teams, progressing to the under-23 squad despite still being 17. Mejbri made his debut playing for the Manchester United U21 side against Salford City in the

2020–21 EFL Trophy The 2020–21 EFL Trophy, known as the Leasing.com Trophy before 28 October 2020 and later the Papa John's Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was the 38th season in the history of the competition, a knock-out tournament for English football clubs in ...

on 9 September 2020. He signed a new contract with United in March 2021. On 20 May 2021, he won the Denzil Haroun Reserve Player of the Year award. made his senior debut three days later in a 2–1 win over

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in the final game of the

season; he came on to replace

Juan Mata Juan Manuel Mata García (born 28 April 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Turkish Süper Lig club Galatasaray. He mostly plays as a central attacking midfielder, but he can also play on the wing. A grad ...

in the 82nd minute.

Loan to Birmingham City

On 29 August 2022, Mejbri joined

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 ...

club

on loan for the 2022–23 season. On 10 February 2023, he scored his first senior goal, against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

, with a surprise free-kick.

International career

France

Mejbri made 12 appearances for France at under-16 level and three appearances at under-17 level.

Tunisia

Eligible to represent Tunisia through his parents, with his father, Lotfi, reportedly having played in Tunisia, Mejbri was called up to the Tunisia national team for the first time in May 2021, committing his international future to the nation of his parents' birth. He debuted in a 1–0 friendly win over

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 ...

on 5 June 2021. Hannibal made his

2021 FIFA Arab Cup The 2021 FIFA Arab Cup () was the 10th edition of the Arab Cup, the Arab world's national team football tournament; it was the first edition under FIFA's jurisdiction. It took place between 30 November and 18 December in Qatar, as a p ...

debut, where he started in all five of Tunisia's games as they progressed to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. Hannibal put in two

man-of-the-match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

performances against

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

in the group stage and semi-finals respectively. Hannibal started in the final against

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

on 18 December 2021, eventually losing 2–0 to

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

to end as runners-up.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Tunisia *

FIFA Arab Cup The FIFA Arab Cup ( ar, كأس العرب, translit=Kaʾs al-ʿArab), or simply Arab Cup, is an international association football competition which has been organized by FIFA since 2021, and is contested by the senior men's national teams of ...

runner-up:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Kirin Cup Soccer The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (International competition which nationa ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Individual * Denzil Haroun Reserve Player of the Year:

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 ...

*African Revelation of the Year (Africa d'Or): 2021, 2022

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mejbri, Hannibal 2003 births Living people People from Ivry-sur-Seine Footballers from Val-de-Marne Tunisian footballers Tunisia international footballers French footballers France youth international footballers French sportspeople of Tunisian descent Association football midfielders Paris FC players INF Clairefontaine players AC Boulogne-Billancourt players AS Monaco FC players Manchester United F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Tunisian expatriate footballers Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate footballers French expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2022 FIFA World Cup players