Burnley add much-needed reinforcement with capture of tenacious Manchester United midfielder

The 21-year-old arrives from Manchester United for an undisclosed fee and has penned a four-year contract at Turf Moor.

After a number of high-profile departures in recent weeks, with more anticipated before Friday’s deadline, the capture comes at a vital time for Scott Parker’s side.

“I’m very excited,” Mejbri said of his move.

“I’m very happy to be here and I can’t wait to see the fans. I have played against Burnley before at Turf Moor and the atmosphere was amazing.

“After speaking to the coach the project sounded good to me and hopefully we can make success.”

Born in the suburbs of Paris to Tunisian parents, the youngster began his junior football career with Paris FC and then a brief spell at Boulogne-Billancourt, before joining Monaco’s academy system in 2018.

Mejbri only spent a year with Monaco and during that time featured for France’s Under-16s, before Manchester United signed him in the summer of 2019.

The tenacious midfielder quickly progressed through United’s academy set-up and Under-23 side and went on to make his senior debut for the Red Devils at the end of the 2020/21 campaign against Wolves in the Premier League.

At the end of that same season, Mejbri then committed his international future to Tunisia after receiving a first call-up and made his first appearance in a friendly against DR Congo in June 2021.

Mejbri went on to spend the 2022/23 season on loan with Birmingham City in the Championship, as well as featuring at the Qatar World Cup with Tunisia in the midst of his time at St Andrews.

After staying at United for the first half of last season, where he scored his first Premier League goal against Brighton and played against Burnley at Turf Moor, Mejbri spent the second half of the 2023/24 campaign with Sevilla in La Liga.

With Josh Cullen missing Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Sunderland through injury, Parker had just two fit central midfielders at his disposal in Han-Noah Massengo and Josh Brownhill.

Mejbri becomes the ninth signing of the window, albeit one of those new arrivals – Johann Berg Gudmundsson – has already departed for Saudi Arabia.