United weigh up their options with Hannibal
MANCHESTER United have a recall option on the loan deal which has taken Hannibal Mejbri to Blues.
The Birmingham Post understands United are open to recalling certain players in January and Mejbri, QPR’s Ethan Laird and Amad Diallo, who is with Sunderland, are on their list. Hannibal is away with the Tunisian national team at the World Cup but has been a huge hit during the first part of the season and Blues are hoping their ongoing relationship with the Red Devils will protect them from any unwelcome disruption.
Laird is close to Erik ten Hag’s first team, more so than Hannibal would seem to be. Diogo Dalot is United’s frontline right-back, with Aaron WanBissaka his back-up. However, WanBissaka could move on in January leaving ten Hag short in the position.
Diallo’s situation is also related to United’s lack of options in attack, exacerbated by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, they do seem to have plenty of options in Hannibal’s position, with Casemiro, Scott McTominay, Fred, Christian Eriksen and Donny van de Beek all available options in the middle.
The 19-year-old has shown plenty of potential in Royal Blue but has also revealed he has plenty to work on and, as things stand, it would be a stretch to see him playing Premier League football in the next couple of months.
Blues have six loan players and while Krystian Bielik could return to parent club Derby, three others have publicly said they expect to remain at St Andrew’s for the whole season.
In the meantime, Hannibal appears set for an early return to Blues with
Tunisia’s hopes of making the last 16 hanging by a thread.
They earned plaudits for holding Denmark to a draw in their first match in Qatar, but then suffered a 1-0 defeat to Australia.
Hannibal and his compatriots are now relying on a huge turnaround on the final day of Group D. They will need to defeat reigning champions France today and hope results elsewhere go their way.
The likelihood is that Hannibal will return to Blues late next week and begin preparing for the fixture with Blackpool on December 10.
He was an unused substitute against Australia but almost sparked a touchline brawl midway through the first half. Aussie goalscorer Mitchell Duke had gone down under a challenge by a Tunisian player, Hannibal retrieved the ball and threw it back at Duke, with it striking the 31-year-old in the face.
Several Australian players ran towards Hannibal to confront him, with his Tunisia team-mates also getting involved. Referee Rafael Foltyn intervened, moving the Australia players away from the scene. He then gave Hannibal a lengthy lecture before telling him to go back to the bench.
Duke later revealed Hannibal apologised to him at half-time. He explained: “Someone had thrown a ball and hit me on my beak. I wasn’t happy because I was already in agony from the knock – to feel like he purposely threw a ball at my face, I was ready to get a bit pumped up and fired up.
“He said it wasn’t on purpose, we shook hands, the referee was happy with that and, to be fair, he approached me again at half-time to say sorry and that it was an accident, so all’s fair in that situation, and respect is there.”