Aaron Wan-Bissaka

Crystal Palace

Wan-Bissaka was a member of the Crystal Palace academy from the age of 11, where he started out as a winger. He signed a professional contract with the club in December 2016. On the 2017 pre-season tour, Wan-Bissaka began to feature with the Palace first team under new manager Frank de Boer, playing in a number of friendlies. The Dutchman played a formation with wing-backs, and this new role emphasised Wan-Bissaka's defensive capabilities, eventually leading to him moving from a winger to a full-back. However, he saw chances limited in the first half of the season as De Boer showed a preference to play Timothy Fosu-Mensah or Martin Kelly at right-back, then new manager Roy Hodgson favoured Joel Ward. He was an unused substitute a few times under the new manager, while also starring for the Eagles U23 side. On 25 February 2018, Wan-Bissaka made his first-team debut for Crystal Palace, in the midst of an injury crisis, in a Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur at Selhurst Park which resulted in a 1–0 defeat. He played all but two minutes of the four Palace matches in March, and won the club's Player of the Month award with 65% of the supporters' votes. On 20 August 2018, Wan-Bissaka was sent off in a 2–0 loss to Liverpool for denying Mohamed Salah a clear goalscoring opportunity. He was named the club's Player of the Month for August, September, October and March. On 7 April 2019, he extended his contract with the club until 2022. Later that…

Wan-Bissaka is primarily a defensively minded right-back, known for his pace, slide tackling and ability in one-on-one defensive duels. He was described as the "best one-on-one defender for a full-back in the world" by Jamie Carragher in 2020. In the 2019–20 Premier League season Wan-Bissaka made the joint-highest number of tackles, level with Wilfred Ndidi on 129.

Wan-Bissaka was born in England and is of Congolese descent. Wan-Bissaka made a single appearance for DR Congo U20s in an 8–0 friendly loss to the England U17s on 7 October 2015. However, he remained eligible to represent the country of his birth and, after impressing for Crystal Palace, Wan-Bissaka was called up to the England under-20 squad in March 2018. He was sent off during his debut against Poland, although England still won 1–0. Wan-Bissaka was called up to the England U21 squad for the first time in September 2018 and made his debut for them on 6 September, playing 90 minutes in a 0–0 draw with the Netherlands at Carrow Road. On 27 May 2019, Wan-Bissaka was included in England's 23-man squad for the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. He made one appearance in the tournament, a 2–1 loss against France, in which he scored an own goal. In August 2019, Wan-Bissaka received his first call-up to the senior England team, ahead of UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers against Kosovo and Bulgaria, but was forced to withdraw from the squad due to a back injury. Since the withdrawal, competition with the likes of Kyle Walker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kieran Trippier and Reece James at right-back meant that Wan-Bissaka had yet to feature for the senior team. In May 2019, he asserted his intention to pursue an international career with England, stating "the aim is England. I am happy playing with England and representing England, so that is what I am going to continue doing".…

Wan-Bissaka was born in Croydon, Greater London and grew up in New Addington, Croydon, where he attended Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School.