Britt Assombalonga’s biography, fact, career, awards, net worth and life story

Britt Curtis Assombalonga (born 6 December 1992) is a Congolese professional footballer who plays as a striker for Championship club Nottingham Forest.

Early life

Assambalonga was born in Kinshasa, Zaire but his family moved to London when he was eight months old. He grew up in Swiss Cottage, in the London borough of Camden, and went to Whitefield school. He is the son of Fedor Assombalonga, a former Zaire international footballer. His brother, Christian is also a footballer and currently plays for Dagenham & Redbridge.

Club career

Watford

Britt Assombalonga began his career with Watford, signing for them as a youth player in 2010 at the age of 17, having made his way up via the Hertswood Impact Scheme. In his first full season in the youth team, he finished as the second-top goal scorer, as his team made it to the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals. Assombalonga also made many appearances for Watford’s reserve team during this time. At the end of the season, Assombalonga was rewarded for his performances with a one-year professional contract at Watford, and was an unused substitute for the senior squad’s last two games against Preston North End and Queens Park Rangers.

Assombalonga eventually made his first-team debut for Watford on 17 March 2012, in a 0–0 draw with Coventry City. This made him the 50th player to go through Watford’s Academy and then play in the first-team.

Loan to Wealdstone

To gain more playing experience, Assombalonga was loaned to Wealdstone in November 2011 along with his Watford youth teammate Connor Smith. On 3 December, he scored his first goal for Wealdstone in a league match against Concord Rangers. Assombalonga had his loan spell extended for another month on 4 January 2012. Assombalonga returned to Watford on 4 February 2012, having scored 11 goals in 16 games for Wealdstone.

Loan to Braintree Town

Having spent time at Wealdstone, Assombalonga was loaned to Braintree Town on a one-month deal just days after returning to Watford; despite being heavily linked with a permanent move north of the border to Scottish club, Peterhead F.C., he also signed a one-year contract extension with Watford on the same day. Assombalonga made an eventful debut in a 3–3 draw against Lincoln City; he scored his first goal for the club to put Braintree 3–2 up, and was then sent off for a second bookable offence. Assombalonga scored four more goals in four games for Braintree after serving his one-match suspension, and was subsequently recalled by Watford to join their senior squad.

Loan to Southend United

At the start of the 2012–13 season, Assombalonga joined League Two club Southend United on what the club described as “an initial one-month loan”. He scored his first goal for Southend on 25 August 2012 in a 3–3 draw against Northampton Town, and went on to score five goals in four matches, including a brace in a 3–1 win against Dagenham & Redbridge on 7 September. At the end of the one-month loan, Southend extended the loan deal to run until 3 January 2013. Having established himself in the first team, Assombalonga became the club’s top scorer that season with a total of 15 goals. Southend again extended Assombalonga’s loan in December 2012, keeping him at the club until the end of the season. He played in the 2013 League Trophy Final against Crewe Alexandra which Southend lost 2–0.

Peterborough United

On 31 July 2013, League One side Peterborough United broke their previous transfer record to sign Assombalonga from Watford on a four-year deal. The fee was undisclosed, but was confirmed as greatly exceeding the clubs previous £1.1m record fee. He was given the number 9 shirt. Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony hailed the deal, saying he was “delighted”, and that Assombalonga had been Peterborough’s main transfer target. On the opening game of the season, he scored on his debut as Peterborough defeated Swindon Town 1–0. He scored a penalty in a 3–1 win over Chesterfield at Wembley in the 2014 Football League Trophy Final.

Nottingham Forest

On 6 August 2014, Assombalonga joined Nottingham Forest on a five-year contract for an undisclosed fee reported to be in the region of £5 million, potentially rising to £8 million based on various clauses (of which Watford will receive 50% due to sell-on clauses). This made Assombalonga Forest’s record signing, surpassing the £4.5 million fee paid to Celtic for striker Pierre van Hooijdonk in 1997. Assombalonga scored his first goals for Forest twelve days after signing, netting a brace against Bolton Wanderers at the Macron Stadium. He then scored a goal each in their next two games, against Bournemouth and Reading respectively. Assombalonga scored in his first East Midlands Derby, opening the scoring against Derby County at the City Ground.

Assombalonga’s goal-scoring run continued with his first hat-trick for Forest on 17 September in a 5–3 home victory against Fulham. He then went on to score in the reverse fixture against Derby, equalising at Pride Park as Forest secured a 2–1 to relieve the pressure on their beleaguered manager Stuart Pearce. On 11 February 2015, however, Assombalonga sustained a serious knee injury during a 3–0 victory over Wigan Athletic after taking a shot at goal, that prematurely ended his season was initially estimated to keep him out of the game for twelve months. Assombalonga eventually made his return from injury on the 19 April 2016 as an 84th-minute substitute for Robert Tesche in a draw against Blackburn Rovers; fourteen months after his injury. On 7 May, Assombalonga scored the winner away at MK Dons, his first senior goal since his injury.

On the opening day of the 2016–17 season, Assombalonga started the first competitive match under new manager Philippe Montanier and scored a brace at home against newly promoted Burton Albion. Assombalonga reaffirmed his commitment to Forest by signing a new five-year contract on 2 September, tying him to the club until 2021. On 19 November Assombalonga scored a brace against Ipswich Town, his first coming after only 17 seconds, which took his tally to six goals in eight games for the season. After the game, Assombalonga was described as the “best goalscorer in the league” by teammate Ben Osborn and “the best in the business outside of the Premier League” by former Forest defender Kenny Burns. Assombalonga missed Forest’s next game, however – a 5–2 defeat of Barnsley at Oakwell – with a hamstring problem to continue his injury-hit start to the season.

International career

Assombalonga is eligible to represent both England and the Democratic Republic of the Congo internationally. In August 2014 he was named on a 37-man provisional DR Congo squad list for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying tournament group stage, but withdrew from the final squad.

On the 4 November 2016, the Nottingham Post reported that Assombalonga had accepted a call-up to the DR Congo national side for their away game against Guinea on the 13 November. Assombalonga, however, was forced to pull out of the squad prior to the game as he was not cleared to play in time. The following December Assombalonga rejected the chance to represent DR Congo at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, stating that he wanted to focus on playing games for Nottingham Forest after an injury-hit season.

Career Statistics

As of match played 21 January 2017

Honours

Peterborough United

• Football League Trophy: 2013–14

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