The 20-year-old netted a very cheeky free-kick for Birmingham (Pictures: Sky Sports)
Hannibal Mejbri is hoping Erik ten Hag was watching his brilliant display for Birmingham on Friday night as he looks to force his way into the Manchester United squad for next season.
The 20-year-old was named Man of the Match in Friday night’s clash with West Brom and opened the scoring with a brilliant – and very cheeky – free-kick.
Mejbri did not appear to be in a position to score and looked set to whip a ball into the box, but he had spotted goalkeeper David Button’s rather questionable positioning which left a massive gap on the near post.
The Tunisian approached the ball as if to cross and then at the last moment fired a wonderful effort towards goal that beat Button at his near post.
He then turned provider at the start of the second half, with another excellent set-piece – this time from a corner – landing on the head of Krystian Bielik to secure a 2-0 victory.
Mejbri has impressed on loan at St Andrew’s this season but that was just his first goal in 24 appearances. While he insists he is focused on developing before returning to United as a better player, he is hoping Ten Hag noticed his display.
Asked if he was expecting a text from the United manager after his superb performance, Mejbri told Sky Sports: ‘I just need to focus and stay focused… I’m sure he has Sky!
‘But I just need to focus until the end of the season and then we will see what happens in the summer.’
After being handed the Man of the Match award, he added: ‘Thank you! Nice trophy, thank you very much. And it was on Sky!’
Asked if there was a better way to have scored his first senior goal, the youngster replied: ‘No I don’t think so!
‘It was a great game first, a good derby. And I had the chance to score and I’m very happy. The atmosphere was really nice so I just have to enjoy the moment.
‘No message [from the manager to shoot], the only message was in my head. I saw that the keeper was a bit too high, so I acted like I was going to cross but I shot.’
Team-mate Bielik was full of praise for the youngster, before joking: ‘Obviously Hanni saw the keeper, great… delivery? Great shot? I’m not sure.’ To which Mejbri responded: ‘You know the quality.’
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The 20-year-old netted a very cheeky free-kick for Birmingham on Friday night.
