A couple of weeks ago, after losing one of his most important players to injury, the manager who signed a Manchester United youngster on loan during the January transfer window appeared to open the door to more regular opportunities.
A fortnight on, however, the closest that Red Devils prospect has gotten to greater game time was a brief five-minute cameo off the bench on Sunday afternoon.
To quote the local press Diario de Sevilla, the Manchester United-owned midfielder has been ‘systematically ignored’ during a four-month loan spell that has done more harm than good to his reputation.
Hannibal Mejbri, has ‘lost half a year in his career’ alongside fellow Premier League prodigy Alejo Veliz, the Tottenham Hotspur striker who also found opportunities hard to come by.
Hannibal Mejbri heading back to Manchester United
Hannibal featured only six times in La Liga, totalling 100 minutes.
Like with Donny van de Beek, on his way back to Man United after struggling to make his mark at Eintracht Frankfurt, Ineos’ hopes of raising valuable funds by selling Hannibal on a permanent basis have been eradicated. Hannibal has a £14 million option-to-buy clause in his contract. One that Sevilla certainly won’t be rushing to trigger, especially if Quique Sanchez Flores stays on as head coach.
Antonito, the former Sevilla striker, certainly feels that Hannibal was worthy of more chances to prove himself, questioning Sanchez Flores’ handling of a player who arrived amid pretty lofty expectations.
“Hannibal, the little that has been seen of him – because he has not played – he could have played more minutes in Sevilla,” Antonito lamented, via Orgullo de Nervion.
Spell at Sevilla turns out to be a disaster
They do say that first impressions count, however. And Hannibal really din’t make a good one. The former Birmingham City loanee left La Liga expert Terry Gibson rubbing his eyes in disbelief after a rather baffling debut performance in January’s 5-1 hammering at Girona.
That, a 28 minute cameo, would eventually prove to be Hannibal’s second-longest stretch on the pitch in Sevilla colours.
“Moaning at his team-mates, he was literally bullying (Adria) Pedrosa at left-back!” Gibson, a former Manchester United forward in the 1980s, told El Tel and Jon’s La Liga Weekly podcast after his debut.
“Hannibal came on on the left side of midfield and went roaming all over the pitch. You have to admire him for wanting to get on the ball, but his positional play was all over the gaffe. You’re looking at thinking ‘(Sevilla) have lost the ball now and he’s on the right wing!’.
“He’s got booked in the first minute and I was thinking he was going to be sent off. He didn’t, but every time you saw him he was moaning at a team-mate and that’s the last thing they need right now.”
Sevilla will take on Barcelona in the final weekend of the La Liga season next time out.
