Toronto FC: What does new signing Chris Mavinga add to the team?

Toronto FC added a potential centre-back option after the signing of Congolese international Chris Mavinga from Rubin Kazan.

After a few days of speculation and reports from several news publications, Chris Mavinga was officially confirmed as a Toronto FC player as per the team’s official website. The French-born Congolese international joins the Reds on a reported 3 year-deal from Russian Premier League club Rubin Kazan and will only turn 26 in May this year, possibly making him a valuable long-term addition to the roster.

The Reds’ General Manager Tim Bezbatchenko was excited by the prospect of having a player who has a wealth of experience playing soccer in Europe, and spoke about how the defender can add some much needed depth to their backline.

“Adding a player like Chris brings depth to our backline. He is a defender that played in the French national youth system which is recognized around the world as a leader in player development,” he said, according to Toronto FC’s official website.

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“We are very excited to add Chris to Toronto FC. His experience at the youth and senior levels will be a welcomed addition to the club.”

Chris Mavinga’s career so far

Chris Mavinga was a highly rated youth player when he first broke out onto the scene, although his career graph hasn’t exactly moved in the way he would have expected it to. After playing his youth soccer with Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool, the left-back signed his first professional contract with the latter in 2010 but couldn’t manage to get any playing time for the senior squad.

The next step was a loan move to Belgian club Genk in December 2010. He managed to make 9 league appearances for the first-team in their run to a Belgian Pro League Championship victory that season and and in-turn garnered the attention of Ligue 1 club Stade Rennais, who purchased him ahead of the 2011-12 season.

A mixed spell in France saw Mavinga make 53 appearances in all competitions before a permanent move to his former club Rubin Kazan in 2013, where he made only 7 league appearances over four years including two separate loan spells in his home country. These were with Stade Reims in 2014-15 (9 appearances) and Troyes in 2015-16 (20 appearances).

The 25-year-old has quite a bit of international experience as well, representing the U-19, U-20, and U-21 levels of the French National team. He also won the 2010 UEFA Championship with the U-19’s and was pegged for stardom with France but it never worked due to constant disciplinary issues, which pretty much ended his future hopes for selection.

Mavinga has since gone on to represent DR Congo on four occasions after earning his first senior international cap with the Leopards in an African Cup of Nations qualification match in September 2015. He was not selected for the team in the ongoing 2017 edition of the tournament.

Where will he fit in?

Despite left-back being his natural position, Chris Mavinga could turn out to be a potential centre-back option for Toronto FC. He is 6’1” tall and already has experience playing in the centre of defense, which means he could easily fit in as the left-sided centre-back in Greg Vanney’s three man backline.

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Considering the fact that all the Reds’ current central defense options are right-footed, Mavinga will definitely find chances to make the position his own this season. If he can keep his disciplinary issues out of the way and stay fit, the Congolese defender could turn out to be one of the best transfers of the MLS season.

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