Silas Katompa Mvumpa — back on the big stage

We take a look at Silas, who­se ban was lifted last weekend and who is as eager to return to the pitch as we are to see him the­re.

When joi­ning the club in 2019, Silas Katom­pa Mvum­pa had alre­a­dy had quite the jour­ney in his life. Born in Kin­sha­sa in 1998, the capi­tal of the Demo­cra­tic Repu­blic of Kon­go, the 22-year-old had his pass­port and a lar­ge amount of his sala­ry taken away by his agent at his first pro club in Euro­pe, Paris FC. In Paris, he had lived in a room with three other play­ers, all mana­ged by the same agent. Threa­ten­ed to unco­ver the sto­ry of his fal­se date of birth and name (Silas Waman­gi­tu­ka), which he had been per­sua­ded to take by the same agent, he didn’t dare to go to the poli­ce.

Then, ever­y­thing chan­ged. In 2019, he got an offer by new VfB Stutt­gart mana­ger Sven Mislin­tat and moved to Ger­ma­ny. In Stutt­gart, in a new envi­ron­ment and with trustful staff and play­ers that got fri­ends, espe­ci­al­ly fel­low French spea­k­ers Orel Manga­la and Tan­guy Cou­li­ba­ly, he ope­ned up about his secret. Sho­cked by the news, VfB mana­ger Mislin­tat and CEO Tho­mas Hitzl­sper­ger, a for­mer VfB and Aston Vil­la play­er, cal­med him down and imme­dia­te­ly infor­med the Ger­man foot­ball asso­cia­ti­on DFB and the public. DFB announ­ced a 3 month ban for unsports­man­li­ke con­duct, which coin­ci­den­tal­ly or not ali­gned with the torn ham­string he had just short­ly befo­re that.

Now the ban will be over and he’ll be eli­gi­ble to play again. A few days ago, he pos­ted a video on his Insta­gram page, trai­ning and skip­ping, which shows he’ll be rea­dy for trai­ning with the team short­ly. Giving my 2 cents, the best-case sce­na­rio would be a return as ear­ly as the home game against Hof­fen­heim on Octo­ber 2^nd.

What a return it’ll be. Alt­hough not at full capa­ci­ty, the sta­di­um will more than likely rise by a few inches as it had when fan favo­ri­te (which Silas is alre­a­dy as well) and inju­ry-pro­ne Dani­el Gin­c­zek retur­ned after a torn ham­string. I expect stan­ding ova­tions and very loud che­ers to his name when he enters the field again.

The sky is the limit for the young play­er from Kin­sha­sa. He’s never loo­ked like he’d be under a lot of pres­su­re when he play­ed, but may­be he’ll play even more libe­ra­ted once he returns. His secret is out in the world now, the ban will be ser­ved in a few days and then there’s not­hing hol­ding him back any­mo­re. He alre­a­dy has than­ked the staff at Stutt­gart for their trust in him and for their sen­si­ti­ve hand­ling of the who­le case. When he plays like he has befo­re his inju­ry, he won’t be at VfB for a long time. The “big 16”, as VfB mana­ger Mislin­tat calls the big­gest 16 clubs of Euro­pe, will soon be kno­cking on the door of Mer­ce­des-Benz-Street 109, whe­re the VfB Stutt­gart offices are loca­ted.

But one thing is cer­tain: He’ll keep the club and the fans in his heart, as have so many play­ers that have left the club. Near­ly all of the Ex-VfB play­ers, when they return to Stutt­gart, talk about how much they still like the club and the fans and the city. It’ll be no dif­fe­rent for Silas Katom­pa Mvum­pa, the rising star of Bad Cannstatt.

Leu­de, glaubt‘s oder nicht.

Ich freu mich so abar­tig drauf die­sen Jun­gen wie­der bei uns kicken zu sehen. 😍🤍❤️#VfB #Silas pic.twitter.com/cmsjPo612g

— __1893Seahawk__ (@blackXXseven) Sep­tem­ber 6, 2021

Pic­tu­re: © ima­go