Crawley Town have announced the signing of former Peterborough United striker Kabongo Tshimanga, who scored 13 times last season whilst on loan at Swindon Town, as per the club’s official website.
Struggles To Overcome Injuries
Between 2018 and 2022, Tshimanga was one of the most consistently prolific strikers in the entirety of English football.
He exploded into life in the men’s game with Oxford City, netting 24 times in 42 games in the National League South.
This led to the Kinshasa-born man moving to National League playoff challengers Boreham Wood and scoring 19 and 17 league goals in the following seasons.
The striker then moved to Chesterfield ahead of the 2021/22 season, scoring a stunning 24 times in just 27 league games in the fifth tier. During this period, he was named in the National League Team of the Season for three consecutive years.
However, this was when injury problems began to plague Tshimanga.
He still managed to score a very respectable seven goals in 17 league games before moving to Peterborough in January 2023, but his time with the Posh did not go according to plan.
The 27-year-old never scored a goal for Darren Ferguson’s side as injuries and fierce competition for places meant he struggled to break into the starting lineup.
He also failed to score in 30 League One appearances with both Peterborough and Fleetwood Town and he had to drop back into the National League with Boreham Wood at the end of the 23/24 campaign.
Last season, Tshimanga joined Swindon Town on loan. It was the first time since 21/22 that he was able to play over 2000 minutes in a league season and he scored a respectable 11 goals, in addition to two goals in the cups.
He played in a slightly deeper position with the Robins under Ian Holloway as Harry Smith was asked to lead the line.
Writer’s View
Tshimanga had an encouraging season last campaign, but he is by no means back to being the same player that he was three or four years ago.
Of his 11 league goals for Swindon, six of them came from the penalty spot, meaning what looked like a good season on paper was much less impressive in practice.
That being said, Tshimanga managed to stay relatively injury-free last season and he still showed signs of the underlying quality that he possesses. Working with Scott Lindsey in his hyper-aggressive system could lead to the 27-year-old being back to his very best next season.
