Forgotten Man Utd star proving Neville right after "unprofessional" outburst
Hannibal Mejbri lived up to his reputation as a livewire in Birmingham City’s Championship win against Millwall. The on-loan Manchester United midfielder is never far away from the limelight and that trend continued in a fiery atmosphere at The Den on Tuesday.
Having signed for Birmingham on a season-long loan last summer, the Tunisia international has enjoyed an impressive campaign getting his first taste of regular first-team football. Birmingham manager John Eustace described Hannibal as “unplayable” after the youngster scored his first senior goal in a 2-0 victory against rivals West Bromwich Albion and placed a price tag of £20million on his head.
The 20-year-old was introduced as a 79th minute substitute as Birmingham saw out a vital win against promotion-chasing Millwall that lifted the Blues up to 15th place. Hannibal wasn’t on the pitch for long but managed to grab the headlines with his cheeky techniques to spur on the travelling supporters - and wind up the home fans.
In stoppage time, Hannibal was able to fend off several attempted tackles by Millwall players to help run the clock down before winning a free-kick. He then raised his arms in the air and clenched his fists in the direction of the away end, before turning to the notoriously hostile Millwall supporters and doing the same thing to them.
The United loanee was met by jeers from angry home fans and was ‘pelted with missiles’, according to one journalist, while the commentator remarked: “He is that kind of player…(he’s) getting the crowd going.”
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Hannibal loves to make his presence known, just as he did when coming on as a late substitute for United against Liverpool in April 2022. Very few United players left Anfield with any credit in the 4-0 Premier League defeat, but Gary Neville praised the France-born player after he put in a firm tackle on Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita.
Man Utd loanee Hannibal Mejbri has become a popular player at Birmingham (2023 Getty Images)“It takes a young kid to come on and show the rest of them how to sprint for the ball and put a challenge in,” said former United full-back Neville at the time. “I'm actually proud of him! Maybe he doesn't like the idea of Liverpool players passing it round him. I wish the rest of them were the same.”
Neville would later admit his Sky Sports commentary of the incident was unprofessional, saying: “That is why I aired on to the slightly unprofessional side of commentary tonight. When I said that the kid to be fair I was proud of him because he was going round trying to top people and trying to kick people.
“But he demonstrated something, he showed something. He didn’t like the idea of Liverpool, at Anfield, passing it around him and the idea of Liverpool taking the mick out of him and his team-mates.
“At least he demonstrated something. I am not saying it is brilliant because he could have hurt the Liverpool players, but as a Manchester United fan you can respond to that.”
Hannibal was named as one of two United players involved in a training ground bust up during Ralf Rangnick’s ill-fated tenure as interim manager before Erik ten Hag’s arrival at Old Trafford. Hannibal and Alex Telles let their frustrations boil over in an altercation at Carrington in May 2022 ahead of the final game of the season, forcing Rangnick to end a training session early.
Although Hannibal played in United’s final game of last term against Crystal Palace, Ten Hag opted to send him out on loan after being appointed as manager in July. Telles was also loaned out, joining Sevilla.
The midfielder will be hoping to convince the Dutch coach he has something to offer at United having helped Birmingham fight off their tag as pre-season relegation favourites, becoming a fan favourite in the process, although a role in the first-team at Old Trafford looks unlikely.
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