Full name Clinton Mua N'Jie Playing position 2010–2012 Lyon Weight 68 kg | Place of birth Buea, Cameroon Number 14 Height 1.75 m Career start 2010 | |
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Date of birth (1993-08-15) 15 August 1993 (age 23) Current teams Olympique de Marseille (#14 / Forward), Cameroon national football team (Forward) Nominations CAF Most Promising Talent of the Year Similar Bafétimbi Gomis, Henri Bedimo, Florian Thauvin, Georges‑Kévin N'Koudou, Rémy Cabella | ||
Clinton Mua N'Jie (born 15 August 1993) is a Cameroonian professional footballer who currently plays for Ligue 1 club Olympique de Marseille on loan from Tottenham Hotspur and the Cameroon national team.
Contents
- Lyon
- Tottenham Hotspur
- Marseille loan
- International career
- Style of play
- Club
- International goals
- International
- References
Lyon
N'Jie arrived at Lyon during the summer of 2011. He joined the under-19 squad and quickly progressed to the reserve squad along with Anthony Martial and Nabil Fekir, playing in the French 4th division. He played his first professional match during the 2012–13 season against Stade de Reims in a 3–0 win. N'Jie scored his first professional goal against Mladá Boleslav in the third qualifying round of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League, helping his team to a 2–1 victory. On 13 August, he scored his first Ligue 1 goal in a 4–0 victory against Lorient. Earlier that day, he signed a three-year contract extension with Lyon through to 2019. Having been shortlisted for the 2014 CAF Most Promising Talent of the Year, N'Jie lost out to Porto and Algeria midfielder Yacine Brahimi. He finished his first full season at Lyon with eight goals and seven assists in 33 appearances, despite only starting half of his 30 league games, as he was the third piece of the Lyon attacking line, with Nabil Fekir and Alexandre Lacazette. N'Jie also finished the season with a 73% shot-on-target ratio, second to only to Paris Saint-Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimović, who ended the campaign on 74%.
Tottenham Hotspur
On 15 August 2015, English side Tottenham Hotspur announced that the club had reached an agreement for the signing of N'Jie from Lyon, subject to international clearance and a work permit. N'Jie agreed to a five-year contract with a reported transfer fee of €12 million (£8.3 million). N'Jie made his Spurs debut on 17 September in a Europa League Group Stage match against Qarabağ, coming on as a substitute for Andros Townsend. In December 2015, he injured his medial collateral ligament (MCL) during a Group Stage match against Monaco and was originally expected to miss three months time. Working with injured teammate Jan Vertonghen during his recovery, N'Jie eventually made his return on 8 May 2016 against Southampton, in what would be his final appearance of the season.
All told, N'Jie made 8 substitute appearances for Tottenham during the Premier League, his longest a 79-minute affair when he replaced the injured Nacer Chadli against Liverpool. In addition, N'Jie made 5 appearances, among those 2 starts, during Tottenham's Europa League campaign, and was held without a goal in all competitions.
Marseille (loan)
On 31 August 2016, N'Jie joined Ligue 1 side Marseille on a season-long loan deal. Marseille was given a €7m option to buy at the end of the deal, and Georges-Kévin N'Koudou headed to White Hart Lane on a permanent move in the opposite direction. On 11 September, N'Jie made his Marseille debut coming on as a substitute for William Vainqueur against Nice. N'Jie secured his first goal for Marseille on 25 September, an equalizer against Nantes.
International career
N'Jie scored just 44 minutes into his Cameroon debut against the Democratic Republic of Congo on 6 September 2014, and followed this up four days later by scoring twice in a 4–1 victory over Ivory Coast at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaoundé, Cameroon. He was named in the squad for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations and played in one group stage match, coming on as a 67th-minute substitute in a 1–0 loss to Ivory Coast. Following the 2015 Cup of Nations, he continued his strong form for Cameroon by scoring once against Thailand in March 2015 and scoring a brace against Burkina Faso in June 2015.
Style of play
N'Jie is a pacy forward who likes to play on the shoulder of the last defender, just off the front man. He can also play off the wing, and as dribbling is a key attribute of his game, he likes to take on players when given the chance. He frequently draws comparisons to Cameroon's all-time leading scorer and compatriot Samuel Eto'o, with this comparison being asserted by Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas.