Darmstadt's Braydon Manu: The fastest mouse from Böllenfalltor

Last year, many didn't even know him.

An example was the scene when the little man in jeans and a fishing hat on his head wanted to celebrate the away win in St. Pauli with the "Lilien" pros at the Millerntor - and the stewards thought he was a lost fan and wanted to take him away.

Braydon Manu made 21 appearances last season (four goals, four assists) but never played a full 90 minutes.

The strength of the slender, but at the same time sparkling with energy and enthusiasm for playing, Ghanaian with north German origin was not enough.

This season he was only not in the starting XI on the first day of the season, which brought SVD their only defeat of the season in Regensburg – opponents of the second half of the season this Saturday (1 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the 2nd Bundesliga and on Sky) at Böllenfalltor .

Since autumn, Manu has also acquired the substance to keep up his enormously exhausting, unconventional and action-packed style of play for 90 minutes.

The Darmstadt fans have taken him into their hearts, who also experienced difficult times at the Böllenfalltor after his arrival from Halle in 2019.

The opponents now also know the 25-year-old well, the name Manu will be mentioned in the team meetings, combined with all sorts of warnings.

From his speed, from his verve, from his feints.

Four goals and five assists in the first series, which was so successful for the "Lilien", speak for him.

"Offensively he can play 'wild mouse'"

And yet Braydon Manu is a player that a team has to put up with.

Who offers a lot of so-called deep runs, but also often runs back and forth as a Darmstadt freestyler and neglects defensive tasks.

It is thanks to coach Torsten Lieberknecht that he found a function and position for Manu – also due to the lack of personnel – that made his strengths shine and his weaknesses not weigh too heavily.

Where he is an asset for the offensive game and not a big threat for the defense: in attack alongside goalscorer Phillip Tietz.

"It's still important that you give him a basic structure for defensive work, there's certainly still room for improvement.

In the forward movement, it helps him personally, but also us as a team, if he acts unconventionally and doesn't have such great tactical constraints," says Lieberknecht of the FAS: "This wild nature is an element that has ensured that he is up front found another option for himself.

That's why we say to ourselves quite consciously: He can play 'wild mouse' offensively.”

Manu: "I wasn't the easiest"

Sports director Carsten Wehlmann told FAS: "Our whirlwind has moments when he does extraordinary things.

That gives the whole team a boost.” Lieberknecht's predecessors in Darmstadt had a hard time with the little winger.

When he was given game shares, he was a player who raced over the field with over-motivation, missed counterattacks and often stringed one wrong decision after the next.

A loan back to the third division club Halle was good for him and his self-confidence and self-image.

Lieberknecht had realized that it is better not to try to tame Manu, but instead to really let him off the leash.

The Palatinate knows him from his junior days in Braunschweig.

Manu ended up there after being kicked out of the youth teams at HSV and St. Pauli, as he, who almost never gives interviews, recently told the "Darmstädter Echo": "I wasn't the easiest, a little bully.

I was wild, did a little bit of what I wanted and fell on my face.”

Lieberknecht says: "In terms of character, he brought a lot of willpower back then, but he was also impatient.

But he has developed further from a young player in Braunschweig, also because he had to travel a bit.”

Today he is a regular in the second division leaders, has the Bundesliga in mind, has a contract until mid-2024 and is a crowd favorite in Darmstadt.

"He's a super energetic guy.

You're just happy when you bump into him," says Wehlmann.

Everyone can see how cheerful Manu is in a video published by the SVD during the Spanish training camp.

Then Manu marched through the hotel with a camera and startled all sorts of colleagues.

This Saturday he intends to do this with the Regensburg opponents, in his own way. As a whirlwind who likes to play wild mouse.