St Johnstone are on the verge of signing Swedish forward Benjamin Mbunga-Kimpioka.
The 23-year-old looked to have a bright future in the English game when he was fast-tracked into the Sunderland first team as a teenager and linked with a big money move to Arsenal.
Courier Sport takes a look at Kimpioka’s football career, that will now take in its fourth country.
Basketball and skateboarding
Born in the Swedish town of Knivsta, not far north of Stockholm, Kimpioka is of Angolan and Congolese descent.
He joined IK Sirius, in the nearby city of Uppsala, as a youngster.
A keen basketball player and skateboarder as a child in Sweden, it was only after watching his brother play that he began kicking a ball.
“I loved the way he ran at people, took them on and I just fell in love with it from there,” said ‘Benji’.
Kimpioka was converted from a right-back to an attacker because of his pace.
Since then he has played in all three forward positions, with that versatility no doubt one of the attractions to Craig Levein.
A long way from home
He joined Sunderland in August 2016, as a 16-year-old.
The Wearside club were doing a lot of scouting in Sweden at the time, with Joel Asoro and Oscar Krusnell already there when Kimpioka arrived.
Kimpioka found it tough to settle in the north east of England at first and spoke about one game in particular that almost led to him returning home.
“I came on in the 89th minute against Derby, having been on the bench,” he later told the Sunderland club programme.
“It was my mistake for the goal and after I was getting shouted at in the changing room. I was upset and gutted.
“I walked home to my digs and just cried. I had tears in my eyes and I was scared to phone my brother to tell him about the situation because I didn’t want to let them down.”
Kimpioka turned a negative into a positive, though.
“I had to change so I started coming in late at night to do extra sessions,” he added.
“I worked incredibly hard and moments like that drive me forward each day. I am not ashamed of set-backs like that because they are what make me the person I am today.”
Arsenal take an interest in Benjamin Kimpioka
That hard work (and raw talent) didn’t go unnoticed.
He scored a hat-trick for Sunderland’s under-18s against Newcastle and it was reported that Arsenal made a joint £5m offer for Kimpioka and Asoro, which Sunderland knocked back.
History-maker
Chris Coleman would include him in first team training at times but it was when Jack Ross took over as Sunderland manager that Kimpioka got his big opportunity, having watched the 18-year-old score seven goals in two games for the under-23s.
He even claimed a bit of history after scoring 123 seconds into his senior debut – a 3-1 Checkatrade Trophy victory over Carlisle.
Kimpioka’s headed goal made him Sunderland’s first ever scorer born in the 21st century.
Have @SunderlandAFC unearthed a new star?
Ben Kimpioka made his first competitive start for the Black Cats this evening, and took just THREE minutes to open his #SAFC goalscoring account.
How pleased are you with his, and the team's, performance against Carlisle United? pic.twitter.com/JPFhsTsD3V
— BBC Sport Tyne & Wear (@bbcnewcastle) October 9, 2018
Ross hoped he had a rough diamond on his hands.
He said: “He’s an enigma at times. He’s got really good attributes. It’s just about trying to piece it all together.”
Ross was sacked in October, 2019, and Kimpioka’s relationship with the next Sunderland manager, Lee Johnson, wasn’t quite as smooth, it would appear.
“I think he’s got a bit to do to be included in the senior squad, if I’m honest,” said Johnson.
“We’ll do everything we can to support him but I think he’s stepping into a period in his career and his life now where he’s got to grow up in terms of that maturity on and off the pitch.
“He’s a great lad, a really, really good kid. Everyone is so enthused about him as a person and so wants him to do well but there has to be a stage in his life where he kicks in to being an elite professional.”
Johnson did appreciate Kimpioka’s ability, though.
On another occasion, he said: “He’s a player who’s quite unique in the way he plays – not off-the-cuff, because that sounds disrespectful – but it is very difficult for a defender to pin him down to a particular movement, and that makes him dangerous.”
Back to Sweden
By the time Sunderland let Kimpioka sign for Swedish top-flight side, AIK, in March 2022, he had played for the first team 16 times, scoring four times.
The most important of those was a November, 2019 last minute equaliser against Coventry City in League One.
23rd November 2019, Stadium Of Light, Sunderland, England; Sky Bet League 1, Sunderland v Coventry City : Benji Kimpioka (31) of Sunderland shoots at goal and scores
Credit: Iam Burn/News Im …@SunderlandAFC@Coventry_City #SkyBetLeagueOne pic.twitter.com/N3TMWWwdrV
— News Images (@news_images_uk) November 23, 2019
There were loans at Torquay (coming back from injury) and Southend (for a month), with Kimpioka’s penultimate appearance in England being back at Sunderland in an EFL Cup defeat to Arsenal, sharing a pitch with the likes of Martinelli, Xhaka, Gabriel and Nketiah.
Game-time but only one goal
Kimpioka played 22 times for AIK in the 2022 season, six of those in the Europa Conference League.
He scored just once – against Elfsborg.
Benjamin Kimpioka! Anfallaren med första målet för AIK, som återtar ledningen mot Elfsborg efter en blunder av Tim Röninng
Se matchen på https://t.co/ocJJkbIhfX pic.twitter.com/xopENpP6DU
— discovery+ sport 🇸🇪 (@dplus_sportSE) July 10, 2022
Familiar name to St Johnstone fans
He has most recently been playing with FC Luzern in Switzerland.
Kimpioka made an instant impact with his loan club – scoring an 89th minute winner at Basel, five minutes after being sent on as a substitute.
Luzern – Saints’ 2014 Europe League opponents – hadn’t tasted victory there in nearly a decade.
Goals for his country
Kimpioka has played 11 times for the Swedish under-21s, scoring against Scotland and Norway, and 10 times for the under-19s, finding the net on three occasions.
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