Cobh Ramblers sign former Aberdeen, Airdrie & U21 Republic of Congo defender Mbayo

Cobh Ramblers FC are pleased to announce the signing of former Aberdeen and Airdrie defender Harlain Mbayo. The Democratic Republic of the Congo U21 international joins the club for the 2022 LOI season.

Harlain grew up in Belgium, having moved there from DR Congo at a young age. He spent time in Anderlecht’s academy before his family moved to England. This saw the centre back feature for QPR and Oxford United’s underage sides before moving North to join SPL club Aberdeen. He would spend four years in Scotland, including a spell at Airdrie. 

Harlain, who is sponsored by Coral Leisure Cobh, had this to say about joining the Rams

“When the opportunity came to come to Cobh I spoke to the gaffer and my agent and came up to my first training session. I really enjoyed it and it was an easy decision to come and be a part of a young but really hungry side. Moving to Ireland wasn’t something I had planned but I’m really happy to be here and just want to do my part for the team and club to achieve our goals.

I’m a central defender and quite rightly I like to defend and win tackles and be very physical. But the aspect of the game I enjoy the most is getting on the ball and being to play forward to help the team on the attack. I also like to be very vocal!

Since coming to Cobh everyone associated with the club has made me feel very welcome and I just want to repay that by my work on the pitch. Hopefully we can get off to a winning start on Friday for our opening game of the season.

Ramblers kick-off our 2022 First Division season on Friday night, taking on Wexford at 19:45 in St Colman’s Park