Transcript
DailySaintsPod: Hello and... Welcome back. to the Daily Saints pod. with Zak and Greg. And as... alluded to in our previous episodes greg is away taking in some winter sun probably the right time considering the stormy weather we've had in and around the southampton area
DailySaintsPod: So... It's me on my own and I'm going to stick to things I know. Help. people who are aware of our podcast long term will know that occasionally i like to do a bit of research into some of our players and a player that i i didn't do a profile on Who has been? in and amongst around the debates as to you know maybe His absence, especially as we brought him in as a sort of... understudy to Cyle Larin is Divine Mubama.
DailySaintsPod: So I thought I'd have a look at his career so far, including you know the games he's had for Saints and some scouts reports and you know some stats here and there.
DailySaintsPod: And just kind of get an understanding more of the player that... we have. Because. i don't really know i didn't Before this, I didn't really know a huge amount about him. Again, we knew he was on loan at Stoke last season. We know that he's... you know been at Manchester City, and been out on loan.
DailySaintsPod: from Manchester City. But there wasn't a huge amount. that we probably looked into other than the fact that we thought he is similarly to Larin and a bit of a target man. which is going to be the assumption of many people. myself included, and also the assessment of a lot of scouts put him there.
DailySaintsPod: But he's just not had the minutes thus far. We'd probably expect him to play more. He'd expect to play more. So yeah, let's just have a look at his career so far. So born on the 25th of October 2004, so he's just turned 22. He is on loan with us from Manchester City for the campaign. He was revealed during the open training session in the summer, an event that my colleague Greg witnessed. So what is it that we actually know about him?
DailySaintsPod: let's Let's go over all of it. He joined West Ham's academy at the age of eight before signing his first professional contract on the 28th of October. 2021. In the 2020 -2021 season, he played in the under -18 Premier League for West Ham.
DailySaintsPod: Wrapping up. 22 appearances and scoring 10 goals with three further appearances in the FA Youth Cup. scoring once. The following season was even better for him. He just consistent continued in ascendancy. And in the 2021 -2022 season, when he would have signed said professional contract, he made 20 appearances for the under -18s, scoring...
DailySaintsPod: 15 goals and slowly but surely increasing his tally. So obviously you can see why he's such a highly rated prospect and the fact that he's not at West Ham anymore and ends up at Man City will start to kind of show why. He then eventually got called up to the Premier League 2 team. so you know what we would refer to as the under -21s, where he made five appearances just scoring the once, but he also did appear in the FA Youth Cup, where he also scored.
DailySaintsPod: So you can kind of see. the start you know slow start scoring more goals, scoring more goals and kind of gets called up to a bit more, you know. more senior football than what he was initially playing.
DailySaintsPod: But yeah, the 2022 -23 season is is really when he he became sort of a known entity. He earned his debut for the West Ham first team in the Conference League against Romanian side FCSB, where he helped facilitate an own goal caused by one of their players in the victory. So whilst he didn't technically score... he he resulted in a goal being scored. And then he also managed to
DailySaintsPod: score his first senior goal in the Conference League against AEK Lanaka. after coming off for the bench. So... This is also noticeable notable for us, at least, the season in which he...
DailySaintsPod: scored a hat -trick against us in the 2023 FA Youth Cup. So obviously not the first team, but underneath a competition, his side would then and go on to win. And in his five appearances in that competition, he racked up an impressive eight goals. so despite his struggles so far at Southampton.
DailySaintsPod: let's not get it twisted. This is a man who knows how to score. and score goals. and you know sometimes that translation from youth football into senior football can be a bit of a struggle.
DailySaintsPod: And I think we're probably going to see some evidence of that. throughout his career. And we've seen it elsewhere with some of our players and players that we've left let go. And some people would now rightly say that maybe that wasn't the correct decision. We're seeing that with Dom Ballard.
DailySaintsPod: we're seeing that we've We've seen that with Sam Gallagher. you know just to name a few of players that we've kind of not have not quite managed to make the step up straight away but then have matured into their positions So he continued to appear for the under the Premier League. two side the under 21s with 20 appearances and 13 goals as well as a few games to the under 18s with five appearances and five goals so again like he is scoring pretty much where I inevitably...
DailySaintsPod: wherever. you know he ends up in, even in the first team. so With a senior debut, senior goal. Few appearances here and there. It was a a cracking season for him, to be honest. 41 appearances but across all of the above competitions. 30 golds. Five assists and over. 3 ,000 minutes of football, becoming West Ham's youngest first -team scorer and the club young player of the year award. So at this point...
DailySaintsPod: His stock is just in ascendancy. He is being potentially considered a... problem. uh a resolution to a lot of west ham's problems a resolution to their so -called striker curse And...
DailySaintsPod: This is when things start to go a bit quieter. uh a lot quieter than he'd have hoped so after a season with over 3 000 minutes of football the next season he only managed 1189 minutes across all competitions And after breaking into the first team...
DailySaintsPod: Clearly didn't do enough to get the minutes that he wanted. He only managed five Premier League appearances with a total of 75 minutes on the field, which considering... what's going on with him here. It's a very sort of familiar story. Four appearances in the Europa League for 87 minutes. So i actually played more Europa League football than he did Premier League, as well as cameos in the FA Cup and EFL Cup. But he was unable to score on any of those appearances off the bench.
DailySaintsPod: His youth career also took a little bit of a hit. making five appearances and scoring twice in the Premier League too. and managing another two goals and four appearances in the under -21s. Premier League International Cup. He did play twice in the EFL Trophy, scoring in both games. Both were 4 -0 wins against Cheltenham and Colchester, respectively.
DailySaintsPod: So he did. managed to get some goals under his belt that year. but obviously 3 000 minutes down to like you know just over a thousand is is very very different He then decided to end his career with West Ham. and it was announced on the 30th of June 2024 that he would be leaving the club, much to the annoyance of of some people. you know,
DailySaintsPod: From what? I've read, looking at the Sunderland Echo of all places, they were talking chatting to James Jones of the We Are West Ham podcast.
DailySaintsPod: who said he believes it's partly down to David Moyes and his lack of trust for youth. which is obviously a thing we're now seeing in Everton. Dippling. the amount of money being spent on him and him and him not really being played and instead they've brought in greelish so it's it stands to reason that that might be the case he also went on to say that Mubama didn't really get the opportunity to show what he could do. But when he did play...
DailySaintsPod: I think there was a general feeling that perhaps he wasn't as... actually as good as people made out for the level we needed him to be at which is interesting for where we are now.
DailySaintsPod: And obviously... the fact that at the moment He is almost the third choice striker, right? That's just the reality of the situation. However, it didn't mean that he... He wouldn't be without a club for long because he was scooped up by Manchester City, who clearly saw something in him.
DailySaintsPod: And because of him being a youth player, he they still provided some sort of compensation to West Ham. It's about two billion pounds in total. And. it was only a slightly busier season than the season before, which obviously as a young player going into Manchester City.
DailySaintsPod: you're always going to kind of get that. And we've seen it time and time again. there There are players that will go to Manchester City and... you know don't really ever get an opportunity or will immediately go out on loan.
DailySaintsPod: But this isn't the season that he did. So he made his debut for the senior side in the FA Cup. And he scored in what would now what would be an 8 -0 thrashing of Salford and would manage to make the bench for the next round before not appearing. for for the rest of the competition.
DailySaintsPod: He would make the senior bench five times and would come on the league for 27 minutes in City's 6 -0 win. against dip switch so whilst not having More senior football.
DailySaintsPod: you know arguably a more prestigious club and you know, being able to kind of Play with those types of players. He's spoken in interviews about playing alongside like Harland and training with that caliber of player kind of increases your you know, Uh, Free.
DailySaintsPod: increases your ability and just playing around the players with that type of aura. you sort of are bound to pick things up from them, right?
DailySaintsPod: He did have a much better time in the Premier League too, though. He made nine appearances, scoring 10 times and picked up four assists. He also played four games of the Premier League two playoffs, scoring six times and assisting once. Obviously, making the step back down to to sort of youth football. It's almost like he sits in the level between...
DailySaintsPod: premier league and premier league two because for premier league two he's he's a really really strong striker And then obviously the step up to the Premier League is a bit different. which is probably... why he ended up going out on loan the next season.
DailySaintsPod: So overall, for his first season at Manchester City, he made 16 appearances in all competitions, scoring 17 times and making four assists, which isn't... which isn't bad, and it it did manage to to secure him a lone spell.
DailySaintsPod: in the 25 -26 season to Stoke City. so That was a much better time for him, but doesn't have the the happy ending that we'd we'd long we'd want it to.
DailySaintsPod: uh obviously stoke as many will remember were off to a flying start last season uh before eventually falling back into the kind of place that we expect Stoke City to fall into.
DailySaintsPod: He scored on his debut in a 3 -1 win against Derby County in the opening game of the season. and then also scored his first senior hat -trick in their 5 -1 win over Bristol City.
DailySaintsPod: So, you know, he's proving he can score goals and he's proving he can score score a lot of goals in one game if need be. But the real problem from Mubama started with a serious leg injury in January against QPR after a horror tackle where the QPR skipper...
DailySaintsPod: went in Ciao. was booed by Stoke fans later. He apologised. He also went up to Mubama and apologised. Mubama was stretched off.
DailySaintsPod: There was a real sense of worry about the damage that was done to him. There was a suspected broken leg. Luckily it wasn't that bad Buh. instead it did damage his ankle ligaments which then kind of knocked them out pretty much for the rest of the campaign.
DailySaintsPod: He would only go on to make a cameo appearance after that. in a 3 -1 loss to Preston two months later. before eventually returning back to Manchester City. so Okay. He probably had an opportunity to to probably do a little bit better, but that injury in January because kind of took him out for the rest of the season. And he's had to work hard to get back to the place that he is now. So in total, he made 28 appearances for Stoke City, scoring five goals and assisting once, playing 1 ,712 minutes of football.
DailySaintsPod: So a big increase on like the last year, you know, another 500 or more minutes. So... you know, earning some, Excellent experience in the championship, understanding the physicality of the league.
DailySaintsPod: playing in a side that, again, were flying at the beginning of that season. And then obviously went back to City, trained with a lot of the City players before...
DailySaintsPod: agreeing to join us on the 11th of august where he obviously was as i pointed out was announced at the open training session and made his debut for us in a 2 -1 loss replacing carl larin He went on to score in our 3 -1 victory.
DailySaintsPod: three over Stoke City. but has yet to find the net again, despite assisting in one of our wins later on. He has only managed 220 minutes so far.
DailySaintsPod: for the season. with his longest appearance in the league being 21 minutes. in our draw against Lincoln. He played the full 90... against West Ham in the Cup where we lost 4 -1. But bear in mind that he's had 10 appearances in the league in total and you take out that 90 minutes, that...
DailySaintsPod: That really isn't a lot of time to to kind of... show off what you can do. 10 minutes here or there is a bit of a struggle. He seems to almost have the... I imagine that behind the scenes, he probably has the same issue that Dozie has, which is...
DailySaintsPod: you know Whilst the appearance tally might make it look like he's he's played a lot for us. The reality is he's... he's kind of got 10 or 15 minutes here and there and and some might argue that you know you need to take those opportunities that are I've thrown at you.
DailySaintsPod: And as was pointed out... earlier. With West west Ham's... uh, podcast. talking about. you know, he he didn't quite Bye. get up to the level that they wanted him to be at.
DailySaintsPod: It's a very short period of time to try and make as much of an impact. and maybe there's a higher expectation. And I kind of feel like that with us, but also with us that there's that the element of the fact that he's a player on loan.
DailySaintsPod: And we we are going to. probably prioritise the players that aren't on loan. in the squat. I'll talk a little bit a bit about that later. But... We cannot discount the fact that... alongside this career at West Ham, Manchester City, Stoke, now us. He has also been an international...
DailySaintsPod: England for the youth teams from the under -15s right through to the under -21s, although he skipped the under -17s completely. For the under -21s, he's made 10 appearances so far.
DailySaintsPod: scoring five times his best record in the international teams and his highest goal tally. So when it comes to international, he's in the peak of you know his career. The only year that he was unable to find the back of the net.
DailySaintsPod: was when he played for the under -19s. We'll be familiar with Simon Rusk, you know? former one -time caretaker manager. uh yeah he was obviously in charge of the under 19s when mabon was in that team and didn't score there So he's he's had quite a good international career as well and has constantly been an international footballer and and been around you know people at that level.
DailySaintsPod: Jake Benningham, for example, you know he's he's been in and around. good players for a vast majority of his career. and has had some really, really good spells. Again. fantastic spells in the premier league too And it's just that step up. And I think that he probably... was was really growing into the championship. a little bit more at Stoke until unfortunately his season was ended by injury.
DailySaintsPod: So one of the things I also like to do. is look at if you're unaware as i always like to have a look at their their management agency or who their agent is and sometimes you know you have these really like small agencies and other times you've got these big wide ones this is one that's a bit bigger He looks to be the second highest value player according to TransferMarket. So take it with a pinch of salt.
DailySaintsPod: underreefed Tottenham's Connor Gallagher. And this is the Elite Management Agency. Some other notable names from there that i've I noticed were Dan Byrne of Newcastle with England fame. But there's also a fair few Pompey players in there too. scattered and Just a lot of players scattered throughout multiple leagues.
DailySaintsPod: Okay. I've decided to also try and have a look and see if there's any scouting reports or anything on him. and there is an extract from Rob Tanner at the athletic and I'll try and put all of the sources in the description as I always try and tend to do during profiles, but I thought I'd, I'd read this out. So it was an interesting.
DailySaintsPod: This was an examination of one of the under -21 international... England games. This is the write -up for him. So with his tall stature, he looks to be a classic target man. He certainly possesses a physical presence and England were looking to use him as the focal point for the front line early on.
DailySaintsPod: He wasn't coming short or dropping into pockets, but looking to play on the shoulder of the last defender. jostling for the position when a cross came in. crosses came into the box. When he did link the play, he was quick to move, always looking to get into the box. He appeared to have been given the instruction to play the width of the penalty box, and whether one of his midfield teammates looked to test the Slovakia goalkeeper from distance, particularly captain Joe Bellingham, his first instinct was to follow the shot in case there was a rebound.
DailySaintsPod: So... He's... rated very, very highly. And obviously that's probably one of the reasons that Manchester City picked him up. And he's done really well for Manchester City at a youth level. And I'll see you again.
DailySaintsPod: had a rough season at stoke and so far a rough life at the start of southampton i mentioned it before Alfie mentioned it as well. But... you know, Alfie is probably... far more well -read than I am.
DailySaintsPod: the It does kind of feel like with Dobbin being a £9 million pound permanent transfer... There is. Much more important to him finding a place in the team, right? We need to try and figure out where he's going to be, whether that's in that striker position. You know, I know that he's meant to kind of be a backup for Azaz, but you also want to keep him playing.
DailySaintsPod: And it feels like because of that, that's why he's being prioritized. I don't know. I'm not an expert on that kind of thing. But it does seem that if Dobbin was alone... and mc Mubama was the permanent transfer.
DailySaintsPod: I think we will probably see a little bit more of him. I thought it was very interesting that like long before he moved to Manchester City, that West Ham podcast identified that...
DailySaintsPod: he wasn't as good as people made out for the level that he needed to be at. And I feel like that's probably... at the time. Fair criticism, West Ham were the Premier League, that they needed a consistent goal scorer.
DailySaintsPod: you know, Moyes. had. people that he preferred to him. And obviously that resulted in him then. leaving and going later on i don't necessarily know if that's the case now but there must be a reason that he is not being played.
DailySaintsPod: And it's either... That. the point I initially made, which is Dobbin is being prioritizeed due to the fact he's permanent. Transfer. or it's and or we want to play potentially in a different way.
DailySaintsPod: And the fact that he's understudied to Cyle Larin. But it it does seem very odd that in sort of 10 appearances, he's only made 10 minutes here or there. And even the game previously... He didn't manage to... you know pick up an appearance.
DailySaintsPod: uh i just feel really bad for him personally like i didn't realize how bad that injury was and if at stoke city And he was having a really good time there. And he's come up in... against really tough competition. with Kyle Larratt right Kyle Larratt started this season in absolute ascendancy.
DailySaintsPod: you know He was scoring every single game. Obviously, we've had a bit of a dip now where he's picked up an injury on international duty. He's you know got the keys to the city of his hometown. He is, you know...
DailySaintsPod: It is hard to play number two. to a player that is at that level currently. I personally hope that he gets a bit more time to impress and a chance to reach the heights that he has previously. However...
DailySaintsPod: we are in a promotion campaign And I can understand that we don't have... the ability to Sort of.
DailySaintsPod: mess about and and... and favor and keep you know give Give minutes to players. for the sake of minutes for players. if There is a tactical reason or even a training reason. whatever reason that they believe XYZ should play.
DailySaintsPod: that is always going to be the case. And I just hope it ends up working out for him. And I don't i don't know if if it doesn't work out. for him here. i think it will work out for him elsewhere because he is still young he has just turned 22.
DailySaintsPod: here's you know played a lot of football involved you know playing europe at a very very young age he still has a a massive ceiling to rise to. Maybe it starts here.
DailySaintsPod: Maybe it doesn't and it starts somewhere else. But... Yeah, it was very interesting to read. Again, I just didn't realise how prolific he was in the Premier League too and how many how many goals he put away.
DailySaintsPod: probably a lot of the reasons that he's been targeted right especially also the fact that he is supposed to be a target man and whilst greg says otherwise again i just feel like there's not been enough time to judge him other than the game against West Ham where we were you know lost 4 -1 His longest appearance is less than 30 minutes. That's not a huge amount of time to see how well a player is doing, especially if he's not starting usually either.
DailySaintsPod: So I guess we'll just have to see how it works out. But I hope that this has been interesting. I hope that it has been. at least a little bit informative i've learned some things along the way as always i will link as many of my sources as i possibly can in the description so feel free to have a look some of them are going to be hype behind paywalls things like the athletic car I know that some people have opinions on The Athletic. I've always really enjoyed it since since days of... Karl Anka covering Southampton.
DailySaintsPod: so yeah give those a read There's also some YouTube videos. a round on Mubama. There was one by a Derby Fan that I watched for a little bit. who was obviously anticipating him potentially joining Derby. this campaign but didn't.
DailySaintsPod: So yeah, there's lots of stuff out there. And again, all I can really hope for is that he ends up coming good for us on his loan spell. Because if not, similar to Zach Abbott, I could see that loan potentially being terminated by the parent club in January if they just aren't getting the minutes.
DailySaintsPod: But yeah. Obviously... Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow. I might look at some of the loanees that we currently have, because obviously it's been a bit of a it's been a couple of months now, so we can start to see how some of them are getting on.
DailySaintsPod: We are obviously all in. The social medias, we are on Facebook, Twitter. Slash X the everything up YouTube. TikTok, Instagram. everywhere. everywhere anywhere blue sky too we We try and we try and keep keep everyone up to date.
DailySaintsPod: with what we're up to. But yeah, thank you very much for listening and joining with me on this journey and I will see you in the next one.
