Evans Timothy Fosu Fosu-Mensah (born 2 January 1998) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder,

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

or full-back. He formerly played for Dutch club Ajax's

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or Sports league, league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team (a ...

, and then for

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and Bayer Leverkusen.

Club career

Manchester United

Born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

parents, Fosu-Mensah began his career with Ajax, before moving to England in 2014. Fosu-Mensah played for Manchester United's youth teams in a variety of positions, including centre-back, right-back and central midfield. He made his professional debut at left-back on 28 February 2016, in a 3–2

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

win at home to Arsenal, coming on as a 55th-minute substitute for Marcos Rojo. On 19 October 2016, he signed a new long-term contract with Manchester United until 2020, with the option to extend for a further year.

Crystal Palace (on loan)

On 10 August 2017, Fosu-Mensah joined Crystal Palace on a season-long loan, reuniting with his former boss at Ajax, Frank de Boer. He made his debut for Palace two days later on 12 August 2017 against newly promoted Huddersfield Town, losing 3–0. Despite the defeat, Fosu-Mensah was praised for his last-minute tackle on Steve Mounié, denying him a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

Fulham (on loan)

On 9 August 2018, Fosu-Mensah joined

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

on a season-long loan. He made his debut for Fulham on 18 August 2018, in a 3–1 away defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, playing the full 90 minutes. On 13 April 2019, he suffered a knee ligament injury which saw him return to Manchester United.

Return to United

On 27 June 2020, Fosu-Mensah made his first United senior matchday squad since 21 May 2017 as he sat on the bench for 120 minutes in an FA Cup tie against Norwich City. On 16 July 2020, Fosu-Mensah started for United against former side Crystal Palace, his first start since 21 May 2017, when he faced Palace at Selhurst Park. On 4 November, he made his

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

debut in a 2–1 away defeat against İstanbul Başakşehir.

Bayer Leverkusen

On 13 January 2021, Fosu-Mensah completed a transfer from Manchester United to Bayer Leverkusen. A month later, on 28 February, he suffered another knee ligament injury that ended his 2020–21 season. On 15 January 2022, Fosu-Mensah made his first appearance in 321 days, coming off the bench in the second half of a 2–1 win over

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

. On 17 March, he sustained a hamstring injury during a Europa League match against

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

, sidelining him for the rest of the season. Later that year, on 4 October, he played his first Champions League match for the club in a 2–0 away defeat against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

. Throughout the 2022–23 season, he featured in just 11 matches in Bundesliga, spending most of his time on the bench. Later on, he was absent from all matches throughout the triumphant 2023–24 season, resulting in him missing out on medals.

International career

Having played at under-15, under-16, under-17 and under-19 levels for the Netherlands but also eligible for Ghana, Fosu-Mensah was rewarded for his performances for Manchester United with his first call-up to the senior team for friendlies against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. He was also eligible to play for

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

as he qualified through his parents. He received another call-up to the Dutch senior squad on 28 August 2017, replacing the injured Kenny Tete for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. Fosu-Mensah made his first senior appearance for the Netherlands on 31 August 2017, when he was named in the starting line-up against France in a 4–0 defeat.

Personal life

Fosu-Mensah is the brother of fellow footballers Alfons and Paul.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Manchester United *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

: 2016–17

References

External links

Profile
at the Bayer 04 Leverkusen website
Netherlands profile
at OnsOranje * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fosu-Mensah, Timothy 1998 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders AFC Ajax players Manchester United F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Premier League players UEFA Europa League–winning players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany Dutch sportspeople of Ghanaian descent 21st-century Dutch sportsmen