When signing for Bristol City in 2019, there was much excitement at the arrival of teenage midfielder Han-Noah Massengo.Aged 18 at the time of his arrival from AS Monaco, Massengo had played seven times for the French outfit’s first-team before making the switch to England, with a reported £7.2 million package agreed – although only £2.7 million of that was an initial payment with the rest coming in add-ons.
It all seems to have worked out for the 22-year-old though as late on in the summer transfer window, Massengo was announced as a new Burnley player, penning a four-year deal with the Premier League club after Vincent Kompany had tracked his services for a while – that is despite the midfielder apparently turning down the Clarets a month prior.
Why did Han-Noah Massengo choose to leave Bristol City?
Despite there being contract offers on the table for Massengo to potentially extend his stay at Ashton Gate, the Frenchman opted to leave the proposals unsigned.
Nigel Pearson admitted last October that the fact the midfielder hadn’t signed a new deal was playing a part in him not being selected much for the first-team, and he did not make another appearance for the club after that.
Pearson later revealed that Massengo had made it very clear that he saw his long-term future away from the Robins, therefore he was not selected any longer and in the January transfer window, he was loaned to French outfit Auxerre for the remainder of the campaign.
He has not yet been in a matchday squad in the Premier League, with his only outing coming in an EFL Cup clash with Salford City last month.
In that contest, the France under-21 international came off the bench in the second half against the Ammies, but it could be a while before he sees action in the top flight of English football.
Having been without a club all summer, Massengo will not be up to full match fitness just yet, and even when he is there is stiff competition at the heart of Burnley’s midfield.
Massengo will have probably been expecting to have to take a back seat for a while anyway, so it’s hard to say if the switch to Turf Moor is going to plan yet or not – more time is needed for him to settle and he will eventually get a chance you would imagine
