Before we dive in on Joel Mvuka, the reported interest and bid from Nottingham Forest is a good opportunity to revisit the explanatory piece for this exercise which used Arne Engels as the guinea pig.
There are a lot of valuable lessons to be learned on Engels’ profile, tenure at Celtic, and the nature of why Forest would be interested given Sean Dyche’s style of play and their ambition to stay out of a relegation fight.
Mvuka turned 23 last November and first appeared in top flight football for Bodo/Glimt in 2022, where he played 1,285 minutes in the Norwegian Eliteserien. He followed that up with 1,027 minutes in 2023 before moving to Lorient in June 2023 for €4.5 million. He played sparingly on loan at Young Boys in the 2nd half of the 2023-2024 season, then played 1,594 minutes for Lorient in the Ligue 2 in 2024-2025. He has had just 554 minutes in 2025-2026, with Lorient having earned promotion to Ligue 1.
Unsurprisingly, Lorient were a dominant side during 2024-2025. leading Ligue 2 in both xG for and against, though not a overly ball dominant or high intensity pressing side. This is not to suggest those elements were not important or present, but I would not characterize their style of play as at standout levels.
Bodo/Glimt were more so of a ball dominant side in the 2023 Eliteserien though not the most intense with their pressing either.
As always, this is important context when considering player rankings within this exercise and how much team factors can impact them. For example, while Mvuka’s xA from Open Play ranked in the 74th percentile in 2023 at Bodo/Glimt, they were by some distance the most dominant attacking team that season. His xA per Shot Assist ranking so low at 39th percentile reflects his 0.122 average xA per Shot Assist versus a team average xG per Shot of over 0.15.
Mvuka rates as a good and active athlete who generally holds is own physically, with aerial duels one area of weakness. He was a productive ball progressor via carries during both seasons playing on dominant teams.
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