Hannibal Mejbri - Manchester United Player

Worth remembering his unveiling was the work of the Tunisian national team, not Hannibal. He just rolled with it and did what he was told.

He made no mention of the event on any of his social accounts, probably thought it was all a bit ridiculous himself.
 
Achilles McCool said:
Ok. Thank you for the response. I certainly agree that it’s a big deal for Tunisia.
But, in the early 90s, if Zidane had come out and said that he would represent Algeria instead of France, I can only imagine a table with some microphones and his parents sitting next to him as he makes the announcement. Maybe a jersey with his name on it to be held up for some photos
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Different era. Also, he was playing for Cannes.
 
Harry190 said:
They're treating him like Messi. Giving him pretty much every other ball. Don't think that's a good idea for such an average team.
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They aren't treating him like Messi but rather he's making himself available for the pass and is actually wanting to actively influence the game. He did the same at Monaco and United.
 
Nero said:
Worth remembering his unveiling was the work of the Tunisian national team, not Hannibal. He just rolled with it and did what he was told.

He made no mention of the event on any of his social accounts, probably thought it was all a bit ridiculous himself.
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I get that and I’m definitely not looking to criticize the player.
I love that the Tunisians are showing excitement for Hannibal but I just think they went a bit far for the announcement of a player that isn’t guaranteed to be world class.
 
Achilles McCool said:
Just to clarify my position, I wish Mejbri all the best and can’t wait to see what he can do for United and internationally, but I don’t get the PR stunt (and I minored in Marketing in college)
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And now you see marketing everywhere? How is choosing which country you want to play for, a PR stunt?
 
Let's just think of it as someone being very happy about him opting for Tunisia.

Above and beyond. Sometimes, people just want to have fun.
 
Dve said:
And now you see marketing everywhere? How is choosing which country you want to play for, a PR stunt?
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To clarify, I’m not saying the “choosing” is a stunt, but the Roman columns, flashing lights and music are most definitely a stunt.
Again, I admit that I’m old and from a different generation. I mean no offense, but I rolled my eyes at the unveiling video and almost expected Hannibal to be carried in by 8 man carrying a golden throne
 
Achilles McCool said:
To clarify, I’m not saying the “choosing” is a stunt, but the Roman columns, flashing lights and music are most definitely a stunt.
Again, I admit that I’m old and from a different generation. I mean no offense, but I rolled my eyes at the unveiling video and almost expected Hannibal to be carried in by 8 man carrying a golden throne
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None of that of his making.
 
Dve said:
None of that of his making.
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I’m not saying that it is. I’m saying it’s embarrassing from the Tunisian NT.
Anyways, I don’t want to take away from the main topic, so I’ll shut up, after saying that I’m very excited that he’s at United and I look forward to watching him for many years to come!
 
Harry190 said:
No, you have to contextualise it. For Tunisia, it's a big deal. This is what happens when you play for Manchester United. It means a whole lot more for them.
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It shouldn't though. Tunisia maybe doesn't have that many individual stars but you have players like Okocha, Drogba, Yakubu, Sala, Mane, Kanu, Eto etc all big African stars that have gone all over the globe, and Tunisia has outperformed a lot of those African countries a few times in tournaments, so unsure why a teenager in United's youth team is cause for such pageantry.

It is definitely curious. Amad for instance, didn't get any such reception for the Ivory Coast, and Zaha who was a lot more established probably didn't either. Ah well ... they're obviously excited and to be fair, off the top of my head I'm not recalling any Tunisian superstars
 
well in contrast to these players, Hannibal could have played for France (and he did for several youth teams) and rejected them for Tunisia. I guess that's a pretty big factor here as well.
 
What some of you guys are failing to understand here is the magnitude of Hannibal's decision to actually choose Tunisia over France, remember he's a player Manchester United one of the biggest clubs in the world, spent up to £10 million on as a 16 years old!!

I'm pretty sure a majority of you have watched him this season, playing at levels above 23's opposition despite 'technically' still being a 2nd year scholar.

In my eyes, Hannibal is worthy of all the fanfare, for all the hype that surrounds his name his performances back it up. The Tunisian FA just wanted to show him how much he is of value to them and rightly so.

In regards to his comments about the switch, I really can't begin to understand how that could irk anybody, he's right I'm pretty sure a lot of younger African talents will opt to play for their home nations because they see other 'Wonderkids' breaking the mould and getting treated like stars rather than get Wan Bissaka'd (should have defo made the euros btw)
 
NickyT said:
no more comments like this, borderline racist.
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id expect it’s a historical reference to his namesake, Hannibal of Carthage, crossing the Alps with his army which included elephants. Carthage was in modern day Tunisia for another link
 
NickyT said:
What some of you guys are failing to understand here is the magnitude of Hannibal's decision to actually choose Tunisia over France
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Is it a big deal?
He's eligable for both and he picked one
Musiala picked Germany over england (and nigeria)
Aubamyang picked Gahna over France
Zaha picked Ivory Coast over England
Stirling Picked England over Jamaica
Declan Rice decided he was english after playing for Ireland 3 times (as well as the U16, 17, 19 and 21 a total of 20 times)
Di Stefano played for spain after he played for Columbia which was after he played for argentina
I just dont see it as a big deal who Hanibal chooses to play for... but best of luck to him
 
48 hours said:
id expect it’s a historical reference to his namesake, Hannibal of Carthage, crossing the Alps with his army which included elephants. Carthage was in modern day Tunisia for another link
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Precisely. I made that reference myself earlier in the thread and Hannibal's use of elephants is of the things he most well known for despite the majority of them dying on their journey across the Alps.
 
Nero said:
Worth remembering his unveiling was the work of the Tunisian national team, not Hannibal. He just rolled with it and did what he was told.

He made no mention of the event on any of his social accounts, probably thought it was all a bit ridiculous himself.
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That's great to hear, and I guess Tunisia showing a bit too much how excited they are by all of this. I think it may give a bad impression on his teammates through no fault of his own, but he can win them over with his personality and talent on the field. It was just amateur hour by Tunisia to do something like this to a young player entering the national team. I'm not sure what Tunisia's schedule is looking like, but if I can catch his first game I'd like to see how much time he gets and what he does with it.
 
Such a natural talented kid, he could be a really, really big thing.
 
Ali Dia said:
Not racist. Witty. The original Hannibal rode an elephant over the alps and laid siege to Rome.
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Maybe he meant that the original Hannibal was borderline racist! Cultural appropriation by the original H.

Who does he think he is? He ain't from Ivory Coast.
 
Sayros said:
That's great to hear, and I guess Tunisia showing a bit too much how excited they are by all of this. I think it may give a bad impression on his teammates through no fault of his own, but he can win them over with his personality and talent on the field. It was just amateur hour by Tunisia to do something like this to a young player entering the national team. I'm not sure what Tunisia's schedule is looking like, but if I can catch his first game I'd like to see how much time he gets and what he does with it.
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The question is whether we will see more Man United jerseys on the streets of Tunisia now?
 
Ali Dia said:
Not racist. Witty. The original Hannibal rode an elephant over the alps and laid siege to Rome.
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I concur. Hannibal the Great, who strode across the continent with his war elephants and crushed the Romans in the Second Punic War. One of the greatest military commanders in recorded history. I think this is hardly racist. Hannibal belonged to Carthage, which is located in modern day Tunisia.
 
I'd be surprised if he gets anything above 500 minutes next season, we should slow down a little bit.
 
SAFMUTD said:
I'd be surprised if he gets anything above 500 minutes next season, we should slow down a little bit.
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Huh? Who has said he's going to be starting for us next year here? Everyone is lamenting the lack of elephants and Chianti in his faux epic introduction to the Tunisian national team far as I can see.
 
The Red Thinker said:
I concur. Hannibal the Great, who strode across the continent with his war elephants and crushed the Romans in the Second Punic War. One of the greatest military commanders in recorded history. I think this is hardly racist. Hannibal belonged to Carthage, which is located in modern day Tunisia.
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I think this is the key. It's not racist to be named after a commander that was even revered by the Romans after his eventual defeat
 
I’m sure if he knew the context he wouldn’t have thought it was racist at all
 
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