STEPHEN MFUNI is hoping to become a star defender for Manchester City and England – thanks to a little help from John Stones and Erling Haaland.
The talented teenager, whose name is pronounced ‘Stefan Funi’, hails from Wigan, can play at both centre-back and left-back and has continued to impress manager Pep Guardiola as he edges towards a debut.
Mfuni, 17, has trained with the first-team squad for over a year and has received a lot of advice from City’s senior players – but particularly England defender Stones, striker Haaland and Dutch international Nathan Ake.
The three stars are known for passing on tips to the club’s teenage players and Mfuni has been listening.
He is a wiry, ball-playing defender who also loves scoring – he grabbed a spectacular one with his right foot against Southampton’s Under-21s in a 3-3 draw in September.
In 2024, he won the FA Youth Cup as a schoolboy with City and scored in the 4-0 win over Leeds in the final and has won both the U18s Premier League title and Premier League 2 titles.
Also in 2024, he was the youngest member of the senior squad which travelled to the United States and he was given the last three minutes of City’s 4-2 win over Chelsea.
He said: “Thank you Lord for giving me this opportunity to make my debut for my boyhood club.”
In terms of competitive matches, Mfuni was first on the bench for City’s 3-0 win over Manchester United on September 14 – and he was an unused substitute four days later in the 2-0 Champions League win over Napoli.
He also travelled with the squad to Arsenal and was on the bench for the 2-0 Carabao Cup win at Huddersfield – along with the games this month against Brentford and West Ham – and is now dreaming of his debut.
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Mfuni has also played for England youth right through the age groups and most of the time, unusually, he has played either one year or even two years up.
He joins a small group of players such as Jude Bellingham, Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dowman who have been fast-tracked by the FA.
He won the Montaigu tournament with the U16s and is now with the U19s and has made 17 appearances for the team.
Both his parents are Congolese and he is one of four siblings. His youngest brother, Josh, is also a talent with Liverpool’s U14s.
So what next?
Mfuni is hoping to now taste some first-team action and could even be loaned out in January.
Swansea and Ipswich have previously shown an interest.
But there is no doubt that under Guardiola, he has flourished although there is a lot more to come.
He said: “Working with Pep? He opened my mind, he sees things I didn’t see before.”
