Hans Mpongo made a true dream transfer last month. The Hague-born attacker left the Netherlands at a young age with the dream and ambition to become a professional footballer in England. After years of perseverance, that dream has now come true, as he traded Needham Market for Brentford’s second team thanks to a successful internship. From the Southern League Premier Division Central aka non league to a club that plays in the Premier League.
By Chris Meijer
Mpongo had to blink his eyes last week. Less than a month earlier, he hadn’t even been a regular starter in the seventh tier of English football. Now he was suddenly on the training field with the Brentford first team, with Christian Eriksen, for example, who was recruited in January. “I talk to Eriksen every day. When I first spoke to Eriksen in Dutch, he was a bit startled. “Huh, you’re Dutch?” he responded. Yes, that was fun. He helps me enormously, it is very educational. And it’s also a bit crazy, because it shows how quickly the situation can change,” says Mpongo with a big smile. “A month ago I was still at Needham Market, now I’m suddenly training with the first team of a Premier League club. I cannot thank God, my mother and my mentor enough for what they have done for me.”
Mpongo shakes hands with Zinedine Zidane during the Danone Nations Cup.
His mother made the decision in 2016 to leave for England to live with her sister in South London. Mpongo grew up in The Hague, where he played for amateur clubs TAC’90 and Vredenburch. “I knew that two professional clubs were watching me, but it never came to an internship,” the eighteen-year-old attacker says about his football years in his native country, in which he represented the Netherlands during the Danone Nations Cup in 2015. At the tournament for schoolchildren between the ages of ten and twelve, he met Zinedine Zidane. “At one point my mother told me that we were going to England for my football career. I didn’t understand that, because we had everything in the Netherlands. Our own house, school, her work, friends: it was not easy for us in the Netherlands, but I had everything. I tried to do everything to ensure that we would stay in the Netherlands. I even called my friends to help me persuade my mother.”
“We left everything in the Netherlands for my football career. That made it impossible for me not to become a professional in England. I do everything for my mother, that is still in my head”, says Mpongo convinced. However, the road to professional football was not a bed of roses. When he had just been in England for two months, he was allowed to do an internship at Norwich City. “That internship period opened my eyes, it became clear to me that it would not be easy to make the step to a professional club.” Shortly after the failed internship at Norwich City, he ran into Don Ubah. Ubah – who invariably calls Mpongo his mentor – invited him to join his Albatross Academy. “He always told me that it wouldn’t be easy to make it to professional football, that I had to train hard.”
Mpongo with mentor Don Ubah and his mother.
“The first months in England were very difficult. One hundred percent, one hundred percent. That was really hard,” Mpongo recalls. “Dutch football is very different from how it is in England. Everything in the Netherlands goes on the ground, I like that. But here everything goes through the air and in the beginning I was not strong guyi was free skinny† I saw everything flying through the air, at one point I thought: where have I ended up? What am I doing here?” Mpongo preferred to return to the Netherlands as soon as possible. “It won’t work if they play football like this,” he told his mother. “My mom and my mentor encouraged me to keep working and be mentally strong:”Keep your head up“You have to go through these things and God does things to make you stronger.” I really don’t know where I would be without them. I would probably have been in the Netherlands by now, not doing anything.”
Outside of the Albatross Academy, Mpongo was active in school and college football during his early years in England. He even played for England Schoolboys, the team with the best players in college football. “One of my teachers wanted to send me to Crystal Palace and West Ham United because he didn’t understand that I wasn’t playing at a club. That ultimately turned out to be nothing. I was also active in a district team at the time, where we played matches against professional clubs with the best players from the area in which I lived.” In between, he completed numerous internships at professional clubs, both inside and outside England. “I don’t have enough fingers to count up the amount of clubs I’ve done an internship at. Do I have to tell them?” Mpongo asks with a laugh. Norwich City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Stevenage, Southend United, Blackburn Rovers, Lincoln City, AFC Wimbledon, Barnsley, Stoke City, Huddersfield Town, Leyton Orient, Peterborough United, Scunthorpe United, Havant & Waterlooville, KV Mechelen, FC Porto, Villanovense and another German club.”
During his internship periods at KV Mechelen, Huddersfield Town, Blackburn Rovers and FC Porto (from left to right).
“So yes, I’ve been everywhere. Everywhere. There was a period when I said to myself: I want to stop, I don’t want to play anymore. I was constantly being rejected again, even though I felt I was doing the right thing. I struggled with that,” continues Mpongo. Until last month, he only had two clubs on his resume: Andover Town (active in the tenth tier of English football) and Needham Market (operated in the seventh tier of English football). A few months ago, he settled in Needham, which is more than two hours east of his hometown of London. “It wasn’t really easy because I was one of the youngest players and I never really played 90 minutes. The level was high, despite the fact that non league used to be. Almost my entire team consisted of former pros. I was always a substitute and started to think: what am I doing wrong? I trained well and scored goals, but I didn’t play too much. Still, I can’t speak badly about Needham, they really gave me the opportunity and the manager helped me a lot.”
Actually, Mpongo had expected Needham Market to start renting him out in January to a club that plays a step lower. Instead, he was told he could play an internship match for Brentford. “When Brentford came along, I thought, huh, Brentford? How? That came out of nowhere. I knew what to do. But of course it was in my head that I had already been to so many clubs, without success. I wanted to do everything I could to get Brentford to hire me. Everything went very quickly after that game. The next day I got a call that I could come back for two more training days. But already after the first day my manager got a call that they would offer me a contract. I was very happy when I heard that. Over the moon† I thanked God on my knees, because I gave so much for it. People don’t know what to do to make it to professional football.”
Mpongo celebrates a goal on behalf of Needham Market.
Now that he has succeeded, Mpongo is taking every opportunity presented to him at Brentford. “We train every day, at Needham Market it was twice a week. The pace and level are of course a lot higher, especially with the first one. It took some getting used to, but the boys have supported me. They said I’m doing a good job and I’m here for a reason. Almost everyone in this team comes from big clubs, that’s different for me of course. The facilities are top notch: a gym, several fields, everything. I try to use everything, I am in the gym every day and one of the last to leave the training complex.” He saves the necessary travel time, because Brentford has given him a hotel room close to the training complex in west London. “Because they know where I lived in London. The neighborhood is not really safe, there are many stabbing incidents and gangs†
Football has given Mpongo a way out and his first professional contract – which runs until the end of the season and has an option for an extra year – leaves him wanting more. “I’ve signed a professional contract now and that’s good, but I’m still not where I need to be. There are still a lot of things I have to work hard on, I still have to get better. I’m happy, except this isn’t my ceiling. Brentford is a very good club, a Premier League club, with very good people, but I know I can always go higher if I work hard and concentrate.”