Last year at this time, very few, if any, Premier League fans had even heard of Aaron Wan-Bissaka. At the time, the Crystal Palace defender had yet to play a senior level match for the south London club and only managed one appearance for the Democratic Republic of the Congo U20 team. Finally, after being with the club for nine years, the 20-year-old right back was able to break into the first team under manager Roy Hodgson back in February.

With fellow defenders Martin Kelly, Joel Ward, and Jeffrey Schlupp all nursing injuries at the time, Wan-Bissaka was given his first Premier League start with the team on February 25th. Though Palace fell 1-0 on the day, the youngster was widely praised for his play on the day. Impressive as that appearance may have be, it is even more remarkable considering the rookie was up against a very strong Tottenham Hotspur side.

If having to defend Harry Kane and company wasn’t tough enough, Wan-Bissaka rounded out his first trio of Premier League appearances against Manchester United and Chelsea. It’s safe to say that the starlet gained some valuable experience in his first few weeks with the senior team.

Going through the youth ranks, Wan-Bissaka was actually mostly utilized as a forward. Idolizing former Arsenal great Thierry Henry, the pacy player frequented the right flanks for the young Eagles. However, after being pitted against Wilfried Zaha in training one day, and handling the Ivory Coast international, the Palace coaches decided to make Wan-Bissaka switch to a defender.

While he has strung together multiple top performances for his club, his career with Palace hasn’t always been so positive. In fact, the 20-year-old defender recently told Mirror that he was nearly released from the club a few years ago. “There have been ups and downs,” Wan-Bissaka proclaimed. “At around 14, 15, I was turning up late, was lazy, wasn’t trying in training, looking tired.”

“Other players were fitter, doing more than me, and I was just slowly going down the pecking order. I was just drifting away with the wrong friends. There were times when I’d have training at seven and I’d be out with them before and it would make me late.”

“Apparently Palace were looking to release me at 14 because of things like that. They didn’t tell me that but my dad did. My dad stopped me from seeing those friends. I was annoyed with him then but I realize now it was the right thing he did and I’m grateful for that. He said I can’t be wasting this opportunity and how he used to take me in the rain, every day bus. Sometimes he used to miss work. That hit me. The way he told me it was like he was serious. I felt his pain so the next season I fixed up and from then I’ve just been shooting up.”

Hard work and dedication has certainly helped put Wan-Bissaka’s career not only back on track, but on a path to becoming one of the hottest young prospects in England’s top flight.

The Palace right back is currently leading all Premier League players at his position in tackles and interceptions, and his tackle-to-dribbled past ratio is an incredible 23 to 1. In addition to his tackling skills, he also ranks very highly in clearances and blocks as well.

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On the offensive side, Wan-Bissaka utilizes his pace extremely well, as evident with his 26 successful dribbles during league play. This number currently leads all Premier League right backs by quite a bit and is only two short of both Eden Hazard and Mohamed Salah.

Pace is obviously the defender’s top quality. Although, he is not just out on the pitch running around aimlessly. Tall and lanky, Wan-Bissaka gives opposing wingers/forwards nightmares when matched up one-on-one. Not only is it extremely difficult getting by the 6’0” right back, but even if that was to happen, he has the pace to recover and make a tackle/block.

Speaking on this rapid rise, Wan-Bissaka claimed that he is hounded by young fans regularly. “I have my own place,” said the starlet, “but can’t really go to my parents house right now because every time I do the kids on the field, when they see my car pull in, they run straight to my house and keep knocking. Even if my dad says ‘he is sleeping’ they’ll wait for me until I leave. At the same time it is good. I like it. I once looked up to someone like that, the way they look at me now.”

Wan-Bissaka’s outstanding play has not only been expressed by fans and pundits alike, but he has since been given call-ups to the U20 and U21 England national teams. Although he was recently forced to withdraw from the U21 camp with a shoulder injury, the defender will almost surely be called back for their next round of matches.

At this rate, Palace will find it hard to hold on to their star youngster going forward. This could already become an issue as Manchester City and Everton are reportedly interested in Wan-Bissaka. Regardless of what happens in the future, Hodgson and Palace are certainly glad that they did not end up releasing their top, young talent six years ago.