Hannibal Mejbri targeting promotion push with Birmingham City

Add as preferred source on Google

Manchester United loanee Hannibal Mejbri is targeting a promotion push with Championship side Birmingham City.

Fresh after returning from Qatar following his World Cup exploits with Tunisia, the 19-year-old impressed in the Blues’ goalless draw against Blackpool on Saturday.

Birmingham manager John Eustace felt Hannibal was “magnificent” against the Seasiders, and the former Monaco wonderkid created more chances than any other player on the pitch (4), as per WhoScored.

United’s number 46 only played ten minutes of football across Tunisia’s three group stage games, so the teenager returned to St Andrew’s feeling fresh and eager to get some minutes.

Hannibal Mejbri targeting promotion push with Birmingham City

With just one more game to be played before Birmingham have played half of their Championship matches, Eustace’s men sit 14th in the table – five points off the play-off spots and six points ahead of the relegation zone.

But instead of focusing on preserving Birmingham’s place in the second tier of English football, Hannibal has loftier ambitions.

The 20-time Tunisia international, who has three first-team appearances for the Red Devils to his name, is targeting a promotion push with the Blues.

Speaking via BirminghamLive, Hannibal said: “I didn’t play a lot in the World Cup so I was happy to come back here and get some minutes and show what I can do.

“For the rest of the season I want to go to the top six for the play-offs and I think that’s the objective of all the clubs and all the fans. We think about this but we need to think as well about the small details and get better as a team.”

While the twenty-time league champions have the option of recalling Hannibal next month, as per the Manchester Evening News, the Tunisian stated that he’s planned to play out the full campaign at St Andrew’s.

“I came here for the season. We [Man Utd] speak after every game – and for the moment nothing. I am enjoying playing for this club, I enjoy the fans, now we just need to work on the small details to be a better team,” Hannibal added.

“We are strong defensively and now we have to work on small details to be better offensively. My only objective at the moment with Birmingham is the top six, the rest will come after the holiday [at the end of the season].”

Hannibal looks set to miss Birmingham’s next game against Reading on Friday night through a one-game suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Blackpool.