Johan Manzambi (£6.0m) has been intriguingly priced up by Fantasy Premier League (FPL) following his move from Freiburg to Aston Villa.
The 20-year-old, who had previously been linked to Newcastle United, has joined for an initial fee of £49m, which could rise to £60m with add-ons.
We take a look at Manzambi’s Fantasy prospects in this Scout Report.
Data comes from WhoScored and Fotmob.
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CAREER SO FAR
| Season | Club | Competition | Starts (sub apps) | Mins | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | Freiburg | Bundesliga | 26 (1) | 2,095 | 5 | 5 |
| DFB Pokal | 4 (1) | 422 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Europa League | 13 (2) | 1,104 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 2024/25 | Freiburg | Bundesliga | 4 (7) | 333 | 2 | 1 |
Manzambi joined the Freiburg youth academy from Servette in 2023, but was quickly promoted to the first team the subsequent year.
Since then, the 20-year-old has developed into one of the most exciting young talents in German football.
In a breakout 2025/26 season, he netted five goals and supplied five assists in 27 league appearances.
He helped drive Freiburg to the UEFA Europa League final, too, where he was named the tournament’s Young Player of the Season, following in the footsteps of Rayan Cherki and Florian Wirtz (both £7.5m).
Johan Manzambi can do everything 🌟#UEL pic.twitter.com/NEvKryCChq
— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) July 2, 2026
The midfielder has made a real impact for Switzerland at this summer’s World Cup as well.
He produced three goals and two assists in four matches, before missing the knockout encounters with Colombia and Argentina through injury.
PLAYING STYLE
Manzambi is best described as a box-to-box midfielder – i.e. a real all-rounder who can do a bit of everything.
At Freiburg, he frequently played a fairly defensive role in a double pivot, yet he would still try to attack the box quickly, getting into good positions in the attacking third.
Above: Johan Manzambi’s season heatmap in 2025/26, via Sofascore
But Manzambi is extremely versatile, having played as a winger and an attacking midfielder/No 10 for Switzerland at this summer’s World Cup.
It’s a position national team coach Murat Yakin feels he is better suited to.
“I’m amazed that he plays in such a responsible position at Freiburg.
“I notice in training that he likes to have the ball and has a great urge to score. For me, he’s a typical 10-man who can work in both directions.” – Murat Yakin on Johan Manzambi’s best position
With plenty of power and a high work rate, Manzambi excels with his dribbling ability. He was consequently one of the top players in his position last season for successful dribbles, progressive carries and fouls won.
There are other strengths to his game, too, which we’ll outline below.
ATTACKING THREAT
Manzambi netted seven goals in all competitions for Freiburg last season, a decent return for a central midfielder in a 4-2-3-1.
According to Fotmob, he averaged 2.2 shots per 90 minutes (p90), an encouraging sign. For comparison, outgoing midfielder Morgan Rogers (£7.5m) recorded 2.3 shots p90.
Manzambi’s shot map from last season’s Bundesliga is captured below (via Fotmob), with plenty of attempts in/around the six-yard box.
Creatively, Manzambi supplied nine assists in all competitions.
While his 0.9 chances created p90 in the Bundesliga was somewhat modest, the quality of chances he generated surpassed that of all Villa’s midfielders, with 0.22 expected assists (xA) p90.
John McGinn (£5.5m) averaged 0.17 xA p90, while both Emiliano Buendia (£6.0m) and Rogers recorded 0.12.
ANY DEFCON POTENTIAL?
Given that Manzambi is a bit of an all-rounder, he could occasionally hit the defensive contribution (DefCon) threshold.
That said, if we use his defensive metrics from the 2025/26 season as a benchmark, when he primarily played as a deeper midfielder in Freiburg’s 4-2-3-1, Manzambi will likely fall short most weeks.
Remember, a midfielder needs to reach a combined total of 12 clearances, blocks, interceptions, recoveries and tackles in a match to bank two extra points.
| Metric | 2025/26 total (per 90 mins/Bundesliga only) |
|---|---|
| Clearances | 1.6 |
| Blocks | 0.1 |
| Interceptions | 1.2 |
| Recoveries | 4.7 |
| Tackles | 1.5 |
| Total DefCons | 9.1 |
WHERE DOES MANZAMBI FIT INTO THE VILLA SIDE?
Unai Emery was looking to bolster his midfield options after Amadou Onana (£5.0m) suffered a ruptured ACL at the World Cup. Youri Tielemans (£6.0m) has completed his transfer to Manchester United, too.
There is a vacancy in the double pivot next to Boubacar Kamara (£5.0m), then, but you have to question whether Manzambi has the necessary tactical and positional awareness to take on such an important role, certainly initially.
Instead, Manzambi could play as one of Emery’s three attacking midfielders, either as a No 10 (following Rogers’ departure) or a narrow winger. This position perhaps feels more likely, at least to begin the new season.
Floating between the half-space and the flank, it would undoubtedly utilise Manzambi’s best qualities from an attacking perspective.
Indeed, Yakin started Manzambi further forward at the World Cup, with a double pivot behind him. Discussing his role earlier this summer, the Switzerland boss said:
“He is a very happy person, with so many football qualities. Right from the first moment he took every chance. He is very versatile: in defence, midfield, on the flanks, as a striker. He learned how to play on the streets. He needs to be more structured, but he is making headway with that. Johan has many qualities. He puts a lot of pressure on opponents, he can even surprise us as well as opponents with what he can do. He can dribble, score goals.
“Sometimes in training we can’t train every player [in tactical intricacies]. Johan needs more time to know all the details, all the positions. He needs to be more disciplined. Fabian Rieder is more experienced and more intense and we needed to start with more organisation. We are so happy to have Johan in our team and he was so important for today’s match. He showed a very good performance today. Who knows, maybe we can use Johan from the start. Let’s see what the future holds.” – Murat Yakin
FINAL THOUGHTS
Manzambi isn’t the finished article, but he absolutely has the energy and quality to thrive in Emery’s 4-2-3-1. If afforded the freedom to push forward, his potential for attacking returns should be enhanced.
His versatility is a real plus, too, and given the outlay (and outgoings!), you’d think he will slot right into an important starting role.
However, while Manzambi has clear potential, with his arrival boosting Villa before a season in which they return to the UEFA Champions League, he could need a bit of time to adjust to the speed and physicality of the Premier League.
There is probably no need to rush into investing in the Switzerland international, then, despite his attractive price.
Villa’s opening set of fixtures also appears to give us plenty of time to assess the situation.
The period from Gameweeks 11-15 looks like being Villa’s best run of games.
