Amadou Mbengue – What to Expect

According to West London Sport, the first signing of the Julien Stephan era is likely to be Amadou Mbengue, arriving on a free transfer from Reading. In this piece, I’ve had a closer look into Mbengue and what he could potentially bring to this QPR squad ahead of the 2025/26 season.

Profile

Age: 23

Nationality: Senegalese

Positions: Centre Back, Right Back

Height: 5ft 11

Preferred foot: Right

Career So Far

Mbengue, born in January 2002 in France, began his career at FC Melun before joining the academy at FC Metz. He made his senior debut for Metz during the 2021/22 Ligue 1 season, going on to make 12 appearances before the club’s relegation. In September 2022, he signed with Reading following a successful trial, initially on a short-term deal. After scoring his first professional goal in December 2022, he extended his contract in January 2023 and later signed a two-year extension in July. Internationally, Mbengue has represented Senegal twice at u23 level, making his debut in September 2022. By the end of the 2024/25 season, Mbengue had made over 100 appearances for Reading across League one and the Championship which leads us to the present day where he has now seems set to sign for QPR.

Defensively

Mbengue is an impressive out and out defender and has that trait of flying into tackles. He is an aggressive tackler and generally just a really good ball winner as shown by his 4.71 ball recoveries per 90 and his 1.5 tackles won per 90, ranking in the top 10% of all League one players in these metrics. However, this sort of play style can come at a cost at times in that he won’t make every challenge perfectly. This is shown through Mbengue’s 11 yellow cards in all competitions last season, more then any other QPR player (Sam Field and Jonathan Varane were joint top with 9). Mbengue is also good when defending in wide areas, which is crucial for if he plays right back, and is often seen using his pace to get round on the cover. Overall, Mbengue is simply a really capable defender and has put in multiple heroic defensive displays for Reading throughout his stint there. Whether Mbengue would be playing at right back or centre back, these are impressive and desirable traits to have for any defender.

However, a potential weakness to Mbengue’s defensive game could be his aerial ability. Mbengue is relatively short for a centre back, being only 5ft 11, in turn resulting in him not being overly dominant in aerial duels as shown by him being in the bottom 15% of League one centre backs for aerial duels won per 90. However, despite what the numbers say, I actually think that Mbengue is not terrible in the air relative to his height as he has a strong leap on him. Therefore, I’m not overly concerned about his aerial ability. Either way this won’t be as pressing of an issue should he be playing at right back rather than centre back.

In Possession

Mbengue’s biggest strength in possession is carrying the ball out of the defence. He likes to step out of the backline with the ball and try to break lines with progressive carries. He often dribbles the ball from deep to gain yards up the pitch, as shown by his 0.4 successful dribbles per 90, putting him in the top 15% of all league one centre backs. We’ve seen just how useful a trait like this can be in progressing play through Ronnie Edwards’ loan spell last season (all be it Mbengue’s carrying is probably not at the level that Edwards’ was). However, this can be a double edged sword as Mbengue has lost possession doing this in some occasions and has been suspect to mistakes at times. Luckily for Mbengue, he is capable to recover from these mistakes with his pace. That being said, this aspect of Mbengue’s game could be something to look forwards to but also to be wary of.

In terms of his ball distribution, it’s hard to say exactly how it will be at QPR as League one is quite a direct league and Reading were generally a more direct team then I expect QPR to be next season meaning Mbengue was often tasked with playing long balls. That being said, Mbengue was highly successful in this aspect, averaging 4.62 accurate long balls per 90, putting him in the top 2% of all League one players for this metric. However, his general pass accuracy is relatively low at 72.5% but this would likely coincide with the League and Reading’s style of play as stated earlier so it’s not something I’m overly concerned about but again is something to keep an eye on. In my opinion, Mbengue has showcased an impressive range of long passing which is definitely something to look forwards to.

In conclusion, Mbengue’s on the ball ability is a part of his game that goes under the radar in my opinion. His long passing and ability to carry the ball out from the back are rare and desirable characteristics which will be important in helping us build up from the back. The graphic below from EFL analytics (@Rich_Analysis96 on Twitter) sums this up perfectly.

Graphic credit – @Rich_Analysis96 on Twitter

Physical

Mbengue is a player blessed with vast physical attributes and athleticism. He is very quick and is able to use his pace to get round well on the cover. For all the things you could praise our current crop of defenders for, you wouldn’t exactly say that they have blistering pace and high levels of athleticism which is something that Mbengue brings in abundance. Mbengue’s recovery pace could also prove useful in us playing a higher line which could allow us to squeeze the opposition more in the press. Mbengue is also physically strong and uses his frame well to shield the ball and bully attackers when required. It’s good to see that the club have looked to bolster our athleticism and pace within the squad (which is something I called for in my recruitment plan) because for all the technical quality that is in our squad there isn’t much pace and physicality in the side.

Bonuses

An on the pitch bonus of the Mbengue signing would be his long throw. Mbengue’s long throw was developed and coached into him under new Sheffield United boss Ruben Selles when he was the manager at Reading. For the past season, we’ve seen Paul Smyth attempt to take “long throws” when he doesn’t really have a long throw. Mbengue coming in could potentially put an end to this.

In terms of off the pitch, Mbengue seems like a great character to have in the dressing room. He was a real leader at Reading and showed that he really cared and was passionate about the club in a really difficult period in Reading’s history. Mbengue had a really strong connection with the fans whether it be the fist bumps after a win or even leading the chants in the stands in a game he wasn’t available to play in. Hopefully Mbengue can develop a similarly strong relationship with the QPR fans should he sign.

How could he fit in?

Mbengue is a versatile player, being able to comfortably play at centre back, right back and even fill in at defensive midfield. That being said, Mbengue has gone on record to say that he prefers to play at centre back so I’d suspect to see most of his minutes there. The other thing to consider would be what system we will be using under new head coach Julien Stephan and whether we will be playing a back three or a back four. I’d suspect that we will be playing a back four and specifically a variation of 4-3-3 due to Christian Nourry’s “Game Model”. Nevertheless, below I have looked at the options for how Mbengue could be used in both a back three and a back four but also at right back and centre back.

Option one – Centre back in a back three:

For a back three, I have used Stephan’s 3–5–2 however it doesn’t really matter which back three formation is chosen. In a back three, I think you would see Mbengue play as the wide right centre back which is probably the role which I think is best suited to him. Despite the fact that Mbengue can play at right back, I can’t see a world in which he would be playing right wing back in a back three/five.

Option two – Right back in a back four:

For right back in a back four, I’ve used Stephan’s 4–1–4–1/4–3–3. The image on the left shows Mbengue as a right back when out of possession. The image on the right shows Mbengue potentially inverting to form a back 3 in possession – something becoming increasingly common in modern football and something that could suit Mbengue’s skill set nicely.

Option three: Centre back in a back four:

In this image, I’ve used a 4–2–3–1 – the formation we used for the vast majority of last season. Mbengue here is at Right centre back in the back four which is where the majority of his minutes came from at Reading last season. In my opinion, Mbengue in this position, is the role that he will most likely play the most minutes in.

Verdict and Conclusion

Amadou Mbengue would be an excellent start to the window in my opinion. On a free from Reading he will now be accustomed to English football and life in England. A lot was made of the fact that none of our signings last summer came from domestic clubs and, as much as I’m a fan of us using the foreign market to pick up cheap deals, there’s so much upside to signing players domestically as it should hopefully take them less time to adapt to the league and the club. In conclusion, Mbengue has both on and off the pitch qualities and characteristics that would make him a desirable addition to the dynamic of this squad so this would definitely be a signing that I would be excited about.

If you have made it this far, thank you very much for reading and I’d love to hear any feedback and your thoughts on the potential Mbengue signing below. As of writing up this conclusion the Kwame Poku news has just broken so I hope to see you back here soon when I do a piece on him.

As always COYRS 🔵⚪️