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Preparation, 12. July 2019

“It feels good to be back”

After returning to Stuttgart following a one-year loan at Hamburger SV, 21-year-old Orel Mangala is eager to secure a regular place in VfB’s midfield.

Mangala made 29 Bundesliga 2 appearances for HSV after spending the 2017/18 campaign with VfB. Though much has changed since he last played for the club, the midfielder is pleased to have returned to familiar surroundings. “It feels good to be back at VfB and I’m looking forward to playing in front of our fans at home games again soon,” he told VfB.de.

Mangala has been back in training for almost a week after representing Belgium at the UEFA Under-21 European Championships, but the 21-year-old knows he still has some catching up to do compared to his VfB colleagues. “Of course I still need a bit of time to adjust to the coach’s demands,” he admitted. “That’s why I’m on the pitch every day and working hard on my game, in order to hopefully play a lot of matches. We’ve made a lot of new signings, so it’s important to talk with each other a lot and grow together as a team.”

The Belgian is playing his part by acting as an interpreter for his 18-year-old team- and room-mate Tanguy Coulibaly. “We get on well with one another and have a lot of fun together,” said Mangala.