Luton Town defensive midfielder Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu becomes the first and only player in English football history to have won promotion from non-league all the way to the Premier League with the same club..

2023-05-28 17:05

Luton Town defensive midfielder Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu becomes the first and only player in English football history to have won promotion from non-league all the way to the Premier League with the same club..




As Luton Town successfully won the 2022/23 season EFL Championship promotion play-offs, the club's DR Congo naturalized international defensive midfielder Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu had also set a special record, that is by becoming the first and only player in the history of English football to have won promotion with the same club all the way from the English non-league to the Premier League.


It is worth mentioning that Mpanzu's record behind his road to the Premier League is even more inspirational than Leicester City's former England international center forward Jamie Vardy.


Vardy was signed by Leicester City after showing a very high scoring efficiency at English non-league level, then won promotion with the club and led the club to shockingly win the Premier League title in the 2015/16 season, but Mpanzu's sitation is the complete opposite. The latter is a club legend who has accompanied Luton Town all the way since it was still in its difficult times from the non-league all the way to the Premier League.


Before the promotion finals, Mpanzu also said at the pre-match press conference that he would do his best to complete an unprecedented feat helping the club promtote to the Premier League and becomes the only player in the history of English football who've been with the club all the way from the non-league to  promotion to the Premier League as his biggest motivation, now he has finally completed a journey in his career that many people would envy.


Hilariously, after winning the promotion play-off finals, Mpanzu jokingly said in an interview with Sky Sport" that he had finally achieved this goal and could "retire", making many laughed out loud with his comments.


In fact, Mpanzu's professional football player experience has not been smooth all the way.


The 29-year-old Mpanzu was born in Hendon, England on March 22, 1994. He is 1.75 meters tall and primarily plays as a defensive midfielder, but he can also play as a center-back or as an attacking midfielder. Hi cousin Peter Kioso is also a professional footballer, currently playing for Rotherham United and primarily as a right-back.


Mpanzu joined non-league club Boreham Wood's youth academy since he was a child, and completed his first-team debut in August 2011.


In December of the same year, Mpanzu was signed by West Ham United, but except from playing in the Hammers' FA Cup match in October 2013, where his current teammate Dan Potts also played with Dan Potts, Mpanzu has never played for West Ham again.


A month later, Mpanzu joined Luton Town on-loan, and later had his ownership bought out by the Hatters at the end of January 2014 following his impressive performances.


For so many years, Mpanzu has never complained about his experience. Instead, he has humbly followed the club to complete three promotions in 2013, 2018 and 2019 respectively, where he won the English Conference Premier, EFL League Two and EFL League One. His performances have also got better and better.


In June 2021, Mpanzu was officially naturalized and called-up to the DR Congo senior national football team for the first time. On the 5th of the same month, he officially completed his national team debut in a friendly match.


This season, Mpanzu made a total of 37 appearances across all competitions for the EFL Championship promotion play-off winners, scoring 3 goals and assisting 1 time.