Eliaquim Mangala

Date of Birth	Nationality	Current Club	Position	Strengths		Weaknesses	Transfer Rumour	Market Value (where applicable)	Similar Players
				Physical	Technical
13/2/1991	French	FC Porto	CB	Pace, Strength	Positioning	Consistency	Chelsea Manchester  United	20-25m euros	David Luiz

Eliaquim Mangala is a 22-year-old Centre back who currently plays for FC Porto. He was previously at Standard Liege in Belgium, and some might remember the headed goal he scored against Arsenal. Mangala is a French and Belgian National of Congolese descent that recently earned his first cap for the French National Team during their friendly against Uruguay. He is a player of extreme physical qualities who does lack some technical qualities. He signed for Porto in 2011 for 6.5m Euros, however he struggled to break in to the First team during the 2011/12 season. This season was Mangala’s breakthrough season. He managed to cement his place in the Porto starting team with 23 appearances in the domestic league and 8 in the champions league.

Mangala is best known for his physical presence in defence. He is both strong and fast which are rare qualities to have for a center back. This works to his advantage, as he is competent when defending a striker who has a larger build, like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, as well as a striker who has pace, such as Sergio Aguero. This is his biggest asset. It is rare to find a defender who is comfortable against any striker, and it plays to his advantage. As Managala doesn’t possess the experience like most established centre backs, he is known to make several judgment errors. However, with his pace and build he is able to recover from these mistakes and help the defence when necessary. Mangala’s biggest weakness is his consistency. As he is still a young player who lacks experience, Mangala is prone to making judgement errors. I have likened him to David Luiz due to the similar errors in consistency while playing. Mangala tends to make darting runs forward into attack and is known to give away silly free kicks in attacking positions for the opponents. However, that is not to say that Mangala is not a player I would want in my team. Where he lacks in his technical attributes, he makes up in physicality and his tackling. Mangala is also very versatile. He has played in the DM role as well as Full Back. Due to his pace and tendency to run forward, both these positions would suit him well.

Mangala most recently has been linked to Chelsea, with Mourinho being a big fan of the defender. Porto are a club who are very hard to negotiate with, and after selling Moutinho and Rodrigues to Monaco, they are not strapped for cash either. Therefore, any bid from Chelsea would have to exceed 20/25m euros. For Mourinho, he likes players who are more physical and less technical, as we have seen with Drogba and Essien. This would play to his advantage. Mangala is an ideal player for Mourinho for his second stint at Chelsea. However, having said that, I feel it would be better for Mangala to continue his progress at Porto and gain some more experience before making the next step. Come January, Mangala could very well be ready to move to another club and he is a player anyone would want in the centre of their defence.

----- cannot add video of sick goal.

link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5--Rl6tyONY