As Hannibal used to say on 1980s action-adventure series The A-Team“I love it when a plan comes together” and if Everton were able to convince a Manchester United wonderkid to join them ahead of Sevilla, it would represent quite the coup for director of football Kevin Thelwell.
This Hannibal (surname Mejbri) is a midfielder from Ivry-sur-Seine, in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris who has progressed through the academy at Old Trafford since arriving from Monaco in 2019. Fabrizio Romano reports that Everton are trying to hijack Sevilla’s loan move for the 20-year-old after he chose the Spanish side over Freiburg and Olympique Lyonnais but with the Blues showing interest, it was now up to the player.
Born some two decades after The A-Team first hit television screens, Mejbri is not of course named after the cigar-chomping silver fox John ‘Hannibal’ Smith who would entertain us on a weekly basis by repeating the variation of a standard plot that involved him using his powers as a ‘master of disguise’ to respond to a cry for help from a damsel in distress; rally his soldiers of fortune through breaking Murdock out of a hospital/coaxing aerophobic B.A. Baracus onto a plane (again), usually through slipping a sleeping pill into his glass of milk; ‘The Face’ attempting to use his charms as a ladies’ man; getting trapped in a garage with only welding equipment to hand before breaking out in a makeshift armoured vehicle and vanquishing the bad guys among a hail of bullets and explosions in which inexplicably nobody emerged with any injuries worse than a slight limp.
Mejbri, who has played more internationals (27) than Premier League games (eight) turns out for Tunisia, the birthplace of his parents and the region’s most-famous hero of classical antiquity, the general Hannibal who famously led his elephants across the Alps when fighting the Roman Republic in the Second Punic War, who hailed from Carthage, the ancient city by Lake Tunis. Just what might this spectacularly-coiffured prospect potentially offer Sean Dyche’s side then?
Not too many non-Manchester United followers are overly au fait with the intricacies of Hannibal’s game and given that he has only played one full game for Erik ten Hag’s side this term in the 1-0 win at Burnley back on September 23. Given that his other four Premier League appearances coming in the shape of four cameos off the bench including a six-minute outing at the end of the 3-0 victory at Everton on November 26, it is more illuminating to look at his statistics from last season while on loan at Championship side Birmingham City where he played 41 League and FA Cup matches.
Using Comparisonator’s ‘Virtual Transfer’ tool, we can correlate Hannibal’s figures with the West Midlands outfit in 2022/23 against players turning out in his position in the Premier League. Although operating in a lower division, his 0.2 assists per 90 minutes would place him fifth on the charts between Heung-min Son of Tottenham Hotspur (0.21) and Chelsea’s Mason Mount (0.18) who has subsequently joined him at Old Trafford in a category topped by Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City who was miles ahead of the chasing pack on 0.65 as next best James Maddison of Leicester City had 0.26 before his switch to Spurs.
Hannibal also likes to carry the ball forward as we see from a respective seventh position for successful dribbles with 2.36, placing him just below De Bruyne on 2.42 in a section that was led by Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise with 5.43. Winning back possession is also a highly-prized attribute for Dyche and while Hannibal’s figures of 4.52 would place him eighth in the ball recoveries category topped by Lucas Pacqueta of West Ham United on 7.42, only the same Brazilian with 3.74 could better his 3.73 per 90 minutes when it comes to ball recoveries in the opposition half.
His off the ball work is also displayed by his 2.55 interceptions per game which would position him sixth in a section led by Bournemouth’s Philip Billing (3.98) while his occupies the same place for both defensive actions (8.84, behind leader Pacqueta on 12.98) and successful defensive actions (6.09) with Pacqueta again on top with 8.33. When it comes to distribution, Hannibal also comes in sixth for long passes on 2.95, a category topped by his Red Devils team-mate Bruno Fernandes on 4.7.
Given that Hannibal fits a similar profile to James Garner who made a move from Manchester United to Everton at the end of Thelwell’s first transfer window at the club in summer 2022 and like Amadou Onana too who arrived at Goodison Park a few weeks earlier, he could prove attractive as a promising young player who could be developed into a major star. A relatively modest outlay should not make him out of reach for the Blues financially even though funds remain tight.
From a personal point of view, while a temporary switch to the Andalusian sunshine might prove tempting, if Hannibal still has serious aspirations of making a long-term breakthrough at Manchester United then the short move down the East Lancs Road to Merseyside would be far less disruptive and give him a more relevant grounding in the lessons required to become a hit at Old Trafford. There does seem to be the prospect of more game time at Goodison Park with Dyche’s squad looking light in the centre of the park of late with injuries to the talismanic Abdoulaye Doucoure plus Idrissa Gueye.
