Aaron Wan-Bissaka

Aaron Wan-Bissaka (born 26 November 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Premier League club Manchester United.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka
Wan-Bissaka playing for Manchester United in 2019
Personal information
Full name Aaron Wan-Bissaka[1]
Date of birth (1997-11-26) 26 November 1997[2]
Place of birth Croydon, England
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[3]
Position(s) Right-back
Team information
Current team
 Manchester United
Number 29
Youth career
Junior Elite
2009–2016 Crystal Palace
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2019 Crystal Palace 42 (0)
2019– Manchester United 113 (2)
International career
2015 DR Congo U20 1 (0)
2018 England U20 2 (0)
2018–2019 England U21 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 09:17, 17 September 2023 (UTC)

Wan-Bissaka began his career with Crystal Palace and was named as the club's Player of the Year 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, Greater London[4] and grew up in New Addington, Croydon, where he attended Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School.[5]

Club career

Crystal Palace
Wan-Bissaka playing for Crystal Palace in 2018

Wan-Bissaka was a member of the Crystal Palace academy from the age of 11,[6] where he started out as a winger.[5] He signed a professional contract with the club in December 2016.[7]

On the 2017 pre-season tour, Wan-Bissaka began to feature with the Palace first team under new manager Frank de Boer, 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.[8] However, he saw chances limited in the first half of the season as De Boer showed a preference to play Timothy Fosu-Mensah 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.[9][10][11]

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 match against Tottenham Hotspur at Selhurst Park which resulted in a 1–0 defeat.[5][12][13] 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.[14]

On 20 August 2018, Wan-Bissaka was sent off in a 2–0 loss to Liverpool for denying Mohamed Salah a clear goalscoring opportunity.[15] He was named the club's Player of the Month for August, September, October and March.[16] On 30 April 2019, Wan-Bissaka was named the Crystal Palace Player of the Year for his displays throughout the season.[17]

Manchester United

On 29 June 2019, Wan-Bissaka signed a five-year contract with fellow Premier League club Manchester United. Crystal Palace would receive an initial fee of £45 million, with another £5 million due in potential bonuses.[18] 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.[19][20]

On 11 August 2019, he made his Manchester United debut, playing the full 90 minutes in a 4–0 league victory over Chelsea.[21] At the end of his first season at Manchester United, he made the highest number of tackles in the 2019–20 Premier League season.[22] On 17 October 2020, as United won 4–1 at Newcastle United, he scored the first goal of his professional career.[23] On 2 February 2021, Wan-Bissaka scored the opening goal in United's Premier League record-equalling 9–0 win over Southampton.[24]

Wan-Bissaka missed a significant part of the first half of the 2022–23 season due to illnesses or injuries,[25][26] with Diogo Dalot starting at right-back in the majority of United's games.[27][28] Wan-Bissaka returned to the pitch after the World Cup break in impressive form, with manager Erik ten Hag praising his improvements.[28][29]

International career

Wan-Bissaka was born in England and is of Congolese descent.[30] Wan-Bissaka made a single appearance for DR Congo U20s in an 8–0 friendly loss to the England U17s on 7 October 2015.[31] 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.[32] He was sent off during his debut against Poland, although England still won 1–0.[33]

Wan-Bissaka was called up to the England U21 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 at Carrow Road.[34] On 27 May 2019, Wan-Bissaka was included in England's 23-man squad for the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.[35] He made one appearance in the tournament, a 2–1 loss against France, in which he scored an own goal.[36]

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".[37]

In August 2019, Wan-Bissaka received his first call-up to the senior England team, ahead of UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers against Kosovo and Bulgaria, but was forced to withdraw from the squad due to a back injury.[38][39]

Since the injury withdrawal in 2019, Aaron Wan-Bissaka has found himself competing with the likes of Kyle Walker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kieran Trippier and Reece James, as for the result of his faltering performance, he has several times expressed his desire to represent his ancestral DR Congo, and media speculation has also supported the claim of his potential nationality switch, even though he has not done so by 2023.[40][41]

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.[42][43] He was described as the "best one-on-one defender for a full-back in the world" by Jamie Carragher in 2020.[44] In the 2019–20 Premier League season Wan-Bissaka made the joint-highest number of tackles, level with Wilfred Ndidi on 129.[45]

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.[46]

Career statistics
As of match played 16 September 2023
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup EFL Cup Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Crystal Palace 2016–17[47] Premier League 000000—00
2017–18[48] Premier League 700000—70
2018–19[49] Premier League 3501030—390
Total 4201030—460
Manchester United 2019–20[50] Premier League 35020405[lower-alpha 1]0460
2020–21[51] Premier League 342302015[lower-alpha 2]0542
2021–22[52] Premier League 20000006[lower-alpha 3]0260
2022–23[53] Premier League 19040506[lower-alpha 1]0340
2023–24[54] Premier League 5000000050
Total 1132901103201652
Career total 15521001403202112
  1. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  2. Six appearances in UEFA Champions League, nine appearances in UEFA Europa League
  3. Appearances in UEFA Champions League

Honours

Manchester United

Individual

References
  1. "List of Players under Written Contract Registered Between 01/04/2018 and 30/04/2018". The Football Association. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2019.
  2. "Aaron Wan-Bissaka: Overview". ESPN. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  3. "A. Wan-Bissaka: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  4. "Aaron Wan-Bissaka". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  5. Fifield, Dominic (8 February 2019). "The rise of Aaron Wan-Bissaka: 'A lot of the time I can't get my head around it'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  6. "Wan-Bissaka Delighted To Debut". Crystal Palace F.C. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  7. Duthie, Shona (7 April 2019). "Crystal Palace's Aaron Wan-Bissaka signs extended deal". Sky Sports. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  8. "Aaron Wan-Bissaka: My year in the Crystal Palace first team". Sky Sports. 9 March 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  9. "Report: Leicester City 0–3 Crystal Palace". Crystal Palace F.C. 16 December 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  10. Dean, Sam; Tyers, Alan (8 January 2018). "Brighton 2 Crystal Palace 1: VAR available, but not used, as Glenn Murray seals FA Cup third round tie". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  11. "U23s Report: Crystal Palace 4–0 Colchester United". Crystal Palace F.C. 20 November 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  12. "Wan-Bissaka Makes Eagles Debut". Crystal Palace F.C. 25 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  13. Mullen, Andrew (25 February 2018). "Crystal Palace 0–1 Tottenham Hotspur". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  14. "Wan-Bissaka Wins March's ManBetX Player of the Month". Crystal Palace F.C. 5 April 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  15. Begley, Emlyn (20 August 2018). "Crystal Palace 0–2 Liverpool". BBC Sport. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  16. "Aaron Wan-Bissaka Wins ManBetX Player of the Month". Crystal Palace F.C. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
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  39. "Euro 2020 qualifiers: Aaron Wan-Bissaka out of England squad with back injury". BBC Sport. 3 September 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
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