Johan Manzambi #9

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The big discovery of the past 12 months. Having burst on to the scene from seemingly nowhere at Freiburg Murat Yakin called him up to the summer friendlies in 2025 - and Manzambi responded by scoring and assisting on his first start, a 4-0 win against USA. The technically gifted player can play in any position and at Freiburg he is often deployed as a defensive or attacking midfielder while he has often appeared on the wing for his country. Has matured since moving from the French-speaking part of Switzerland to Germany at the age of 17 but can still lose his cool on the pitch, and was sent off in two consecutive Bundesliga matches during the 2025-26 season. After Freiburg had beaten Basel 2-1 in the Europa League last season Xherdan Shaqiri gatecrashed an interview with Manzambi and said: “It was good to him play, he has a big future ahead of him.”

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