☁️✨CLOUD 9: Divin Mubama
The Temptations: Mubamasterpiece?
The Temptations released “Cloud 9” in 1969, produced by Motown, introducing psychedelic soul to the musical landscape.
Let’s see how much that series proves to be a figment of imagination once Chelsea figure out they can’t afford to budge from the competitive wage and cycle to work scheme (to buddy up with Wesley Fofana?) package offered to Gyökeres, Šeško and Delap. To the biggest disappointment of their respective agents more than Chelsea fans in general. And once Emanuel Emegha embraces his footballing destiny to join Eddie Howe’s Newcastle.
I like Divin Mubama because
His box movement is sound on crosses
He cleans up lose balls in playable layoffs
He stands his ground and can jump.
He can finish
A discussion around box movement and connecting with crosses.
IIIIIIIIrons
West Ham - Southampton : FA Youth Cup semi final 2023
From Newham to West Ham
West Ham - Arsenal : FA Youth Cup final 2023
Salford Focus
Double 6yd box movement
Mubamaking Movies
Air Mubama
My take on Divin Mubama
IIIIIIIIrons
I first saw Divin Mubama in West Ham United’s run to the U18 Premier League South they won, and FA Youth Cup success in 2022-23 with West Ham 2004’s.
He was leading the line with a combination of workrate, winning a header over anyone, hard to knock of balance and ready to sting in the box on crosses.
In a sense, that newsletter is long overdue.
You can’t coach being big, but it’s also easy to play like a lump, be the biggest fish in small pond. Only to eventually end up journeying varying levels of the Vanarama (Carlos was definitely the brand partnership that tipped them over).
I like the spirit to close down relentlessly, with a game relying on physical contact without delving in the grey area to kick people. Gamemanship yes, violence no.
FA Youth Cup Semi final 2023 West Ham United vs Southampton
Gideon Kodua, FAYC Winning captain, getting away on the wing.
Mubama stands in the exact spot at the edge of the field of vision for the defender, where he sees a moving shape
In line with the penalty spot to go around it
Dart at the near post when the cross is hit, from the defenders’s blind side
Mubama has a range of “ecological” solutions to connect with crosses.
You can see the difference between a poacher and someone playing upfront, with the former having explored the physics of their lower limbs : outside the boot, flick, shinpads, knee, ankle bone. Anything that can do a job will do. If it works it’s not stupid
From Newham to West Ham
West Ham U18s had Marshall (now Huddersfield), Mubama and Kodua (Wycombe) ; that was quite the screen to disrupt build up. With Lewis Orford who scored 18 from midfield and England’s answer to David Silva - George Earthy
Funny how Kodua plays senior football for Wycombe on loan, Marshall won Huddersfield Town Player of the Season and Mubama plays for Manchester City as of 2025
Talent Hotbed:
Richard Koné : who scored three digit number of goals for Essex Senior League Atletico Newham ; voted League One Young Player of the Season 2025 for his debut season at the level.
Gideon Kodua : born in Newham ; who played for Newham District Side until he joined West Ham as U14
Divin Mubama : born in Newham ; from Silvertown.
Anything that can do a job will do. If it works it’s not stupid
In that sense, snapshots result from that line of thinking.
“Prepare your footwork, slower your motion” doesn’t always apply under time/space pressure in the box where defenders and especially goalkeepers aim at “aligning” their motion to what the other does.
Like a defender locking his jockeying footwork on the amount of touches the wingers takes ; with the winger trying to get say 3 touches for 2 steps resulting in disrupting / flat foot-ing the defender.
High recovery, slide it between the CBs
Mubama’s fist touch is good in his stride
But the key thing (referring to the above) is the snapshot with the toe poke halfway his next stride that caught the keeper off balance.
I know first hand since 2018-19 that Hugo Ekitike was “him” ; markedly for his use and variety from “toe pokes”
Mubama’s hat trick used the Agüero trick / confidence thing to bend it around defenders to kiss the near post, with a trajectory that would look going wide before curling in. That’s an instant finish that suggests confidence and having sandboxed it enough in (opposed) training.
FA Youth Cup Final 2023 - Arsenal vs West Ham United, April 25
Fwiw - my notes on the Match Programme
Salford Focus
Divin Mubama scored the second goal vs Salford in the FA Cup in 2024-25 ; with Josep Guardiola giving minutes to another “Guardiola Striker”.
90 minutes.
Savants think “Guardiola strikers” are asthmatic but cultured attacking midfielders with flair, to make up for the fact they can’t get on half the rides at Disneyland.
Pep Guardiola played Eto’o, fawned over Ibrahimovic, signed Haaland and played Divin Mubama upfront. That’s conjunctural. Not per design. Continue ruining the sport at your level by discarding the ones that will make it (in a few years - there’s a reason academy coaches aren’t first team coaches. Coach what you have based on what they can do. Let people who sit on the bench at 3pts football level tell you who are the good players and tactical innovations to pursue).
On the edge of the field of vision where the defender only perceives a moving shape.
Be patient and not ball watching (therefore appearing in front of the CB before the cross is hit)
Savinho plays a “Mahrez pass” for a Nunez underlap
A passes to B, C gets on the move. Standard "good football” universal principles.
There’s a Pyramid of Maslow (more like Pyramid of Masquick) on priorities for strikers
Can you move
Can you move often*
Can you move often and fast**
Can you move often and fast and change direction
Can you move often and fast and change direction in the same sprint
Can you move often and fast and change direction in the same sprint in the box
*: time to recover between plays
**: are you a Grade II “fast twitch fiber” athlete
Divin Mubama is at the top end of the pyramid, in his own right.
This was diabolical.
Bait the defender for a cutback (appearing on the edge of his field of vision)
Then cutting in a broken line to attack the space he created with his side step
Another good marker for strikers that is obvious. This is an ugly ass goal, because he throws himself to tackle the ball in ; maximising the potential surfaces of contact if there’s a lucky bounce. Laces, instep, shinpad or knee and it goes in.
Forwards who makes double movement on the six yard box.
YES. PLEASE.
You think this is about subversive creative football. No, it’s about paying their due money to the best players who can get around the pitch and put the ball in the back of the net by bamboozling senior defenders.
Goalposts don’t move. Mubama, though, will move accordingly.
Double 6 yard box movement:
Luck only favours the prepared minds
Divin Mubama equalised at the last minute in the PL2 clash beween Fulham and Manchester City.
Look at this killer double movement - the rebound means he’s not stuck in the middle with you, the defender.
Divin Mubama is… the equalizer
Mubamaking Movies
Some other stuff I liked in West Ham’s U21 fixture vs Chelsea in 2023-24.
The footage is what it is. This is the perspective you’ll get to a large number of games, before players break through. Finding a way to spot things is how you train your eye.
The typical organic adaptation to a “bully boy”. Stick the DM (Sam Rak-Sakyi) on the striker rather than having a CB knocked out like a bowling pin.
Header lost? Nope. See the small (strong) nudge in the armpit to put the defender off balance when he plays the header ; supposedly for his own midfielders to win the ball
Worth reading the discussion around Duran’s aerial success and the reality of the plays that are logged “unsuccesful”. Flicking the ball for the goalkeeper is won on the spreadsheet, lost in the spirit. Lost with a nudge creates a second ball that can be clipped first time over the top, even if “lost” on the spreasheet.
Erm, the fine line between gamemanship and hardmanship.
That’s still closer to “don’t you think your mashed potato smells funny, do smell it from up close”
Sharp separation off the front
The double 6yd box movement, to arrive inside it and not be planted like a bus stop in Barking and Dagenham
Gravitas - good strikers pull half the defence in their trail
That long run means : play the ball in my back, so that I can go around the penalty spot and receive the cross. Leopards don’t need GPS
Nor (DR) Congolese football fans to find and gegenpress anyone who “might lean towards the Leopards in the future who knows wink wink”
Oh, is that Aristide on the right? Yes, it is.
My former striker in 2020-21, then called up for Congo U20s and mentioned here :
Recovering from slipping (that evening was *wet*) - to barge the defender out of the way from the drop point.
Mubamasterpiece ?
Some plays I liked
Be on toes in the box
Leap when the ball is at it’s highest point
Smash it when it’s on it’s way down. Like you’re greeting the football - said Guy Roux
Start the leap at the highest point of the trajectory
Smash it on it’s way down
Header whilst in the air and spinning : say hi to the ball said Guy Roux
The Harry Kane way to shrug off defenders, create a strong stance to have defenders bouncing off him
To create a yard to shoot
A lose 50/50 channel ball
Barging the senior CB to contest the header
Mubama’s trademark half volley / soles pass
“Is he technical enough” - covered already above.
Can striker pass isn’t the question. It’s whether they want to.
And once they do it, they generally want it back.
If you want a cross in the box (and a chance to score) ; you’ll find the solution to punch a pass to a wide player to set him up.
Football is an individual sport played as a team.
Excellent zipped pass to the winger, kissing the defender’s feet
There’s some thought process, rather than run at the ball and stay shoulder / shoulder towards the box
Drife left shoulder,
to slide a smart through pass, bit reverse ince the defender changed direction
Blowing up a Premier League CB at Brentford.
Yep, that’s Football League journeyman and now PL stalwart Ethan Pinnock
Mubama has the gamemanship to work the channels
Delay taking the touch, invite the defender to go to ground
Just tip it when he lunges, and that’s a free kick as opposed to trying to win a foot race and kicking the ball out of bounds
Mubama’s workrate is a strong trait of his
Therefore he’s not a chancer when he finds himself in these situations.
Majority of strikers take a heavy touch with their left (his strong foot) and go to ground, and ref says “you wouldn’t have kept it in the bounds”
See how Mubama uses his right
So that he’s got time to process and make a decision with his left.
Cutback on Jack “the lad” Grealish who wins a penalty
Aaron Crosswell’s corner
Mubama stuck on the defender screening the GK, to back into him
Comes alive to eat off scraps in the 6yd box for any second ball
Flicking the ball with a rrange of solutions.
“are you technical enough”
That creativity / problem solving in the box is not just “handy”, it is top level.
Not just a flick. An acrobatic kick.
French call that a “pigeon’s wing”
Technical enough. On the way to win West Ham the Conference League trophy in 2023
For a player who amassed quite a bit of silverware so far being around winners in 2023
2 games at 18 in UEFA Conference League,
8 goals when winning the FA Youth Cup
And the Mark Noble Award for the Young Hammer of the Year 2023
Albeit West Ham eventually lost the U18 Premier League final against Manchester City
Air Mubama
Dunno, seems dominant at U21 level.
Touches in the box seem relatively low but probably because he also works excellently in the channels and “the other penalty box” (the one in front of the box)
Not just a bus stop shelter in Dagenham
Mubama wins headers and scores goals.
A performance he’s not fluking considerng he gets between two and three shots on target per game.
Divin Mubama finished on double digit goals in Premier League 2
Including a game where he demolished Chelsea U21s - can’t compete forever when Acheampong, George, Golding, Dyer, are anywhere but playing for the first team or U21s.
And went on a rampage in the Play-Offs
And named POTM for February
To win the PL2 2025
My take on Divin Mubama
That newsletter was long overdue, but it’s also satisfying to see him going places since Spring 2023. Can he play Premier League football?
Right now, he’d be a good 4th striker to have in a squad, assuming the first three do what work. This is elementary squad building.
One moves and scores
One plays off the wings
One has a super strength ; usually heading
And a 4th Welbeck or Sturridge learns his craft ; before going on loan the next season.
Broke is broke ; and PE do what PE do.
Would I suggest the player to join Chelsea ? No. Steer clear.
Would he be a bad option or “Market Opportunity” ; yes, because Mubama’s set of skills set him apart: good finisher, header, box movement. You get value out of these players, from limited minutes.
Like the professional footballer version of Michy Batshuayi.
Chelsea currently have a winger (Nicolas Jackson - probably for sale already) and a player that didn’t sniff a PL pitch since he embarassed himself in the 0-2 walkover to Manchester City on opening day. McNeilly overlooked (because he wouldn’t extend) and the occasional Shim Mheuka poverty minutes.
💫 🔁 Shim Mheuka vs København
“I feel sorry for Tyrique George and Mheuka, the young lads coming in, they didn’t get fed the ball because the system behind them wasn’t right.
Di Caprio minute allocation with age cap only gets you so far. Better to have Demba Ba coming off the bench, but Mubama wouldn’t be too far off from a stylistic stand point especially as his skillset (and output) is difficult to find at Academy level.
Manchester City saw it, and they took the “market opportunity”.
Academy scouts can’t afford to get it wrong ; players who get a look (some will say Bamford signed for Chelsea from Forest so that he wouldn’t play against them) usually find the environment years after. The Emenalo Sporting Directorship got Chelsea to have Matic, Bamford, Zouma and Salah being around.
Bielsa revealed what he saw and others couldn’t (“straight back, runs funny, too soft to play because he acts bougie and plays the violin”) in an incredible flair floating 9 who couldn’t stop scoring.
January 2023 - Chelsea U21s vs West Ham U21s
Divin Mubama’s high press forcing a high turnover tapped in by George Earthy (possibly my favourite player from that FA Youth Cup 2023 West Ham side)
Look, who’s alive in the box again?
The third goal is excellent after receiving and taking on Charlie Webster
With a short backlift
Curling in the top corner
Who had an assist and a goal in the same game? Mason Burstow
Another “market opportunity” already mentioned in the Meïté piece.
I think I know what I see, I think we might see him score goals like Bamford one day.
England is bottom trawling the local talent pool, especially since Brexit.
There might be more Jamie Vardy, Richard Koné or Djed Spence ; each with a unique pathway. But generally, the names you see now will have been on the books at some point, and will score goals in EFL or PL.
Goalposts don't move; Divin Mubama however, will do accordingly.
