Samuel Mbangula Scout Report: The Winger Who Broke Through at Juventus Faces His Third League

Following a player across three countries in three seasons is both a gift and a burden for a scout. A gift, because you see the same footballer under three refereeing cultures, three tempos and three job descriptions. A burden, because there is no uninterrupted series to work with; every stop brings its own context. Samuel Mbangula is exactly that kind of file. He scored on his Serie A debut and was named man of the match, moved to the Bundesliga the following summer for the second-highest fee in Werder Bremen’s history, and a year later returned to Italy on loan. This report examines what those three stops have in common, and why Bologna signed off on a €12.5 million purchase option.

The framework: his full name is Samuel-Germain Kinduelu Mbangula Tshifunda. He was born on 16 January 2004 in Brussels to a family of Democratic Republic of Congo descent. He stands 1.81 m and, despite being right-footed, is deployed predominantly on the left wing. His academy route runs through two of Belgium’s major schools: Club Brugge from 2014 to 2019, then Anderlecht from 2019 to 2020. On 10 August 2020 he joined Juventus at under-17 level and signed a four-year professional contract with the club in 2022. He made his Serie A debut on 19 August 2024 against Como, scored in that match and was named man of the match. His first Champions League goal came on 11 February 2025 against PSV Eindhoven. On 23 July 2025 he transferred to Werder Bremen for a reported €10 million plus bonuses, recorded as the second-highest transfer outlay in the club’s history. On 1 September 2026 Bologna took him on a season-long loan, paying Werder Bremen a €2 million loan fee and securing a €12.5 million purchase option. He has represented Belgium throughout the youth levels and received a senior squad call-up in November 2024.

Strengths

• Four goals and five assists in 32 matches during his first Serie A season: balanced, measurable output for a winger in his early twenties.
• Regular minutes from the first season onward across three different leagues and coaching setups.
• A clear attacking identity in the right-footed left-winger mould, cutting inside to finish.
• A three-stage academy education running through Club Brugge, Anderlecht and Juventus.
• No extended injury interruption on record.

Weaknesses

• Goal and assist production during the Bundesliga season fell below the Serie A year.
• Shooting is concentrated almost entirely on the right foot; weak-foot usage does not stand out in the records.
• Two club changes in two years have prevented long-term data accumulating within a single system.
• No registered senior international appearance to date.
• The wide €10-17 million band on market value indicates there is no consensus on his pricing.

Development Areas

For a 22-year-old winger, the development heading is less about adding a new skill than about making existing output repeatable. The first area is consistency of production: the gap between the four-goal, five-assist run in Serie A and the single-figure contribution in the Bundesliga leaves open the question of how system-dependent the player is. A full season at Bologna is the cleanest data set available to answer it. The second area is the weak foot: for a player cutting inside from the left, not being read by the defender requires the threat of also going down the line with the left, and that is the clearest technical gap in the current profile. The third is decision speed inside the box: the fall in output per minute during the Bundesliga season is a category usually explained by choices in the final third, and without a recorded measurement any comment stays limited.

Contract Situation

His registration belongs to Werder Bremen and the contract runs to 30 June 2028. Under the agreement announced on 1 September 2026, Bologna took the player on loan for the 2026-27 season; the loan fee was reported at €2 million and the purchase option at €12.5 million. No trigger condition that would make the option obligatory appears in detail in the clubs’ official statements, and it should be noted that this detail has not been clarified in publicly available sources. The structure is symmetrical for both clubs: Bologna measures the player across a season without taking on risk, while Werder Bremen keeps an exit price above the fee it paid in the summer of 2025 on the table.

Career Projection

The decisive variable over the next twelve months comes down to a single question: can the output of that first Serie A year be repeated? Bologna is a club with regular European competition and a wide wing rotation, which means both sufficient minutes and high visibility for the player. If the option is exercised, a permanent Serie A address in the 22-to-23 age band and a career plan spread over four years take shape. If it is not, a return to Werder Bremen comes onto the agenda; with the contract running to 2028, the club retains a second sales window. The situation on the Belgium senior side is tied directly to this season’s performance: the 2024 squad call-up shows the door is open, but a registered appearance requires a regular club shirt first.

This report was prepared by cross-checking data from Wikipedia, Bundesliga.com, Werder Bremen’s official club statement, Tuttosport, Sportmediaset and FotMob. Because the 2025-26 season statistics conflict between sources, both figures are stated in the report. GEGEN SCORE is an editorial assessment score combining technical, tactical, mental, physical, potential and risk components; it is a comparison tool, not a transfer decision on its own. Last updated: 21 September 2026.

Tolga Sahin — Gegen Pres Western Europe correspondent. He follows academy output across the Premier League, Ligue 1 and the Benelux leagues.