Manuel Benson

Belgian footballer (born 1997)

Manuel Benson
Personal information
Full name Manuel Benson Hedilazio[1]
Date of birth (1997-03-28) 28 March 1997 (age 27)[2]
Place of birth Lokeren, Belgium
Height 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Winger
Team information
Current team
 Burnley
Number 10
Youth career
Lokeren
Anderlecht
000–2014 Lierse
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2017 Lierse 68 (9)
2017–2019 Genk 11 (0)
2018–2019 → Royal Excel Mouscron (loan) 26 (4)
2019–2022 Royal Antwerp 51 (5)
2021 → PEC Zwolle (loan) 13 (0)
2022– Burnley 40 (11)
International career
2014 Belgium U19 2 (0)
2017–2019 Belgium U21 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20:15, 12 April 2024 (UTC)

Manuel Benson Hedilazio (born 28 March 1997) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Burnley.

His father, Jorge Hedilazio, is a former Angolan footballer who played for Lokeren in the 1990s.[3]

Early life

Benson was born in Lokeren to an Angolan father, Jorge Hedilazio, and a Belgian mother, Gina Pieters.[4] His parents met in the 1990s at Bobby's Club, a dance bar in Lokeren, while his father was playing for the local club.[5]

Club career

Benson made his top flight debut, playing for Lierse, on 19 April 2014 against KV Oostende in a 2–0 home defeat. He replaced Ahmed Sayed after 87 minutes.[6] In the 2016–17 season he played 37 league games for Lierse, scoring 7 goals,[7] four of which in 9 Europa League play-offs games.[8] In this season Benson also tied with Kevin Kis for the league's top assist provider.[9]

In 2017, he moved to RC Genk, and was loaned out to Royal Excel Mouscron for the 2018–19 season. He played a total of 28 games for Mouscron, scoring 6 goals. Benson had the most assists in the regular season behind Hans Vanaken and Alejandro Pozuelo with 8.[10][11]

In September 2019, he moved to Royal Antwerp FC on a permanent move.

In the 2020–21 season, Benson played five games in the Belgian First Division A and 3 games in the UEFA Europa League, scoring one goal in Antwerp's 3–1 win over Ludogorets, which allowed them to advance to the Round of 32.[12] On 26 January 2021, Benson moved to Eredivisie club PEC Zwolle on a loan deal until the end of the season.[13] He had the most assists of his team in the 2020–21 Eredivisie, recording four assists in 13 league games.[14][15]

On 4 August 2022, Benson joined EFL Championship club Burnley for an undisclosed fee on a four-year deal.[16] He scored his first goal for Burnley in a 2–1 win against Bristol City on 17 September 2022.[17] He scored his first FA Cup goals on 7 January 2023, notching a pair in an away game against Bournemouth.[18]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 2 April 2024
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup[a] League Cup[b] Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Lierse 2013–14[2] Belgian Pro League 1 0 0 0 — — — 1 0
2014–15[2] Belgian Pro League 9 0 0 0 — — 2[c] 0 11 0
2015–16[2] Belgian Second Division 21 2 0 0 — — — 21 2
2016–17[2] Belgian First Division B 37 7 1 1 — — — 38 8
Total 68 9 1 1 — — 2 0 71 10
Genk 2017–18[2] Belgian First Division A 8 0 3 0 — — — 11 0
2018–19[2] Belgian First Division A 0 0 — — 1[d] 0 — 1 0
2019–20[2] Belgian First Division A 3 0 — — 0 0 1[e] 0 4 0
Total 11 0 3 0 — 1 0 1 0 16 0
Mouscron (loan) 2018–19[2] Belgian First Division A 26 4 2 2 — — — 28 6
Antwerp 2019–20[2] Belgian First Division A 11 0 5 1 — 0 0 — 16 1
2020–21[2] Belgian First Division A 5 0 0 0 — 3[d] 1 — 8 1
2021–22[2] Belgian First Division A 34 5 1 0 — 7[d] 1 — 42 6
2022–23[2] Belgian Pro League 1 0 — — 2[f] 0 — 3 0
Total 51 5 6 1 — 12 2 — 69 8
PEC Zwolle (loan) 2020–21[2] Eredivisie 13 0 — — — — 13 0
Burnley 2022–23[2] Championship 33 11 1 2 3 0 — — 37 13
2023–24[19] Premier League 7 0 0 0 1 0 — — 8 0
Total 40 11 1 2 4 0 — — 45 8
Career total 209 29 13 6 4 0 13 2 3 0 242 37
  1. ^ Includes Belgian Cup, FA Cup
  2. ^ Includes EFL Cup
  3. ^ Appearance(s) in Belgian Pro League relegation play-offs
  4. ^ a b c Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
  5. ^ Appearance in Belgian Super Cup
  6. ^ Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa Conference League

Honours

Genk

Antwerp

Burnley

Individual

  • Belgian Second Division top assist provider: 2016–17 (joint – 7 assists)[9]

References

  1. ^ "2023/24 Premier League squad lists". Premier League. 13 September 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Manuel Benson at Soccerway. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Jorge Hedilazio :: Player Profile :: playmakerstats.com". www.playmakerstats.com. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  4. ^ ""Je ne veux pas qu'on m'appelle le nouveau Bailey"". Le Vif/L'Express. 8 April 2017. Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  5. ^ "'Ik was mentaal niet klaar om alleen naar het buitenland te trekken'". Knack (magazine). 1 August 2017. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Lierse vs. KV Oostende – 19 April 2014". Soccerway. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  7. ^ "Benson Manuel". Sport.be. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  8. ^ "Manuel Benson officially arrives at the Excel Mouscron". JMG News. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Division 1B - Belgium - Season 2016/2017". FootballCritic. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  10. ^ Soccerway. "First Division A 2018/2019 – Regular Season – Statistics". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  11. ^ "L'Antwerp officialise l'arrivée de Steven Defour et annonce celles de Manuel Benson et Zinho Gano" (in French). L'Avenir. 2 September 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  12. ^ Van Den Broeck, David (3 December 2020). "Antwerp klopt Ludogorets en plaatst zich voor de 1/16de finales van de Europa League" (in Dutch). De Standaard. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  13. ^ "PEC Zwolle huurt Benson Manuel tot het einde van het seizoen". www.telegraaf.nl (in Dutch). 26 January 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  14. ^ Soccerway. "PEC Zwolle Squad statistics 2020/2021 season". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  15. ^ "'PEC Zwolle mag hopen op langer verblijf, Benson aast op vertrek bij Antwerp'" (in Dutch). Voetbalprimeur. 20 May 2021. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Benson joins Burnley". www.burnleyfootballclub.com. 4 August 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  17. ^ "Burnley 2–1 Bristol City". BBC. 17 September 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  18. ^ "Championship Burnley beat Bournemouth in thriller". BBC Sport. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  19. ^ "Games played by Manuel Benson in 2023/2024". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  20. ^ "Landskampioen Genk opent seizoen met Supercup-winst tegen KV Mechelen". Sporza. 20 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  21. ^ "Club Brugge v Antwerp". goal.com. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  22. ^ Long, Dan (25 April 2023). "Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Burnley: Vincent Kompany's Clarets clinch Championship title after Manuel Benson stunner". Sky Sports. Retrieved 25 April 2023.

External links

  • v
  • t
  • e
Burnley F.C. – current squad