"We didn't know his name!": How Kazungu has made his mark at MK Dons this summer

The name Brooklyn Kazungu is a new one for MK Dons fans and coaches alike.

The 18-year-old penned his first professional contract with the club in the summer, but did not come through the Stadium MK academy. On the books at Leicester City as youngster, he also spent time with Exeter City, Arlesey Town and Varsity 9 before arriving at his home-town club last season, initially on trial for the youth team.

Impressing enough to warrant his deal, Kazungu was something of an unknown not just to supporters but also to Paul Warne and Richie Barker at the start of the summer. Not a part of Dons’ young sides in the EFL Trophy last season, Kazungu added numbers in first-team training but made his mark on the return from the off-season.

“We didn’t know his name heading into the summer,” Barker admitted. “He was a youth-team trialist a few weeks ago. He came away with us to Croatia, and he has dug in with us over those tough six weeks has come out a better player. He’s 18, so we’ve got to be careful but he’s going in the right direction.

“He came and trained with us a couple of times last season, but he was falling between the gaps, we weren’t sure if he could play in games, so he’d come and train with the first-team and at the time, his understanding of the game wasn’t quite there but you could see there was something there.”

Warne described him as one of the stand-outs in Maidenhead a couple of weeks ago following the youngster’s early appearance, replacing injured captain Alex Gilbey, and after looking lively against NK Istra and Tottenham, he once again made his presence known against Wealdstone on Saturday.

The lively winger showed no signs of stage fright against the National League side, even nutmegging captain Jack Cook and leaving him to chase a clean set of heels before his cross was just missed by Sam Nombe.

His performance, once again, drew praise from management with Barker, who took charge of the side in north-west London, saying: “I thought he was excellent, probably our biggest threat. For someone whose biggest attribute is running with the ball, he was doing it on probably the driest pitch in England. That would have been hard going today.

“When we get him beyond pre-season, we can move him on a bit and he can become a bigger threat. He has come such a long way in a short time but we’ve got to be careful with him physically too.

“His attitude over the last two or three weeks has been amazing, and he is working his way towards being a part of a first team squad.”