Divin Mubama opens up on a year on the training ground with Erling Haaland, his relationship with Sorba Thomas and being taken under the wing of Mark Robins
07:00, 05 Oct 2025
Divin Mubama is on a season-long loan at Stoke from Manchester City.
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Divin Mubama is on a season-long loan at Stoke from Manchester City.(Image: Lindsey Parnaby/Shutterstock)
Divin Mubama might have only played half-an-hour in the Premier League last season but he does not underestimate the power of a year on the training ground at Man City.
The 20-year-old new England under-21s centre-forward is thriving at Stoke City on loan this term, helping Mark Robins’ Potters hold their own towards the right end of the Championship through the early stages.
He’s been waiting for this moment. He came through the ranks at West Ham but turned down contract offers to leave in 2024, having grown frustrated with a lack of proper first team chances.
Stoke were among a long list of clubs who tried to sign him then and it might have been a surprise that he chose the Etihad as his next step, considering he would face an Erling Haaland-shaped obstacle to get minutes under Pep Guardiola.
He started and scored in an 8-0 FA Cup thrashing of Salford while he came on for Kevin de Bruyne in a 6-0 league win over Ipswich but he is sure that what happened from Monday to Friday will set him in good stead for the rest of his career.
“You learn so much,” he said. “Pep’s passion for football is something I knew previously, but to be a sponge in that environment and learning different things, from Erling too, has obviously developed my game.
“I obviously didn’t play as much as I would like but I was surprised by how much you can learn in training. To take that into my career moving forward is massive. I think that’s going to play a massive development in my career.”
Robins has a reputation for developing strikers, none more so than Viktor Gyokeres at Coventry – signing him from the fringes at Brighton for about £1m after a decent but not spectacular loan spell. Two years and 40 goals later he was sold for £20m to Sporting Lisbon, plus a chunky sell-on fee.
Mubama scored on his debut and then made it two out of two before a controversial red card in a win at Southampton, when his second yellow card was for an alleged dive. He has had to find ways to impact the game when he hasn’t been on the scoresheet too.
“I’ve enjoyed it,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve reflected on myself as much because of the games going on but I came in here with an open mind, knowing I need to learn my craft, trying to perfect it and trying to get better with each game.
“The manager obviously helps everyone but because he was a centre-forward himself I think you can relate to him so much more. The advice he gives me going into the game has really helped me so far.”
Part of that enjoyment has been linking up with fellow former West Ham youth Sorba Thomas, who has been revitalised since joining Stoke from Huddersfield.
It doesn’t quite do it justice to say that Wales winger Thomas, aged 26, has sent in more crosses than anyone else in the Championship when his figures are a couple of dozen more than the next player, Hulls’ Ryan Giles.
Thomas loves to send the ball into dangerous areas and challenge his teammates to get on the end of it and it’s no coincidence that he’s leads the Championship assists charts in the four years since he broke through at Huddersfield Town – even if he spent last year on loan with Nantes in France.
Mubama said: “We have mutual friends so I knew he was about to make this move and it’s good when you know someone and he’s from East London as well. Sorba was on the books at West Ham too but he’s six years older than me isn’t he? We’ve got a good relationship on and off the pitch.”
He remembers a former Stoke favourite who he did cross paths with at West Ham, his old coach Kevin Keen, who guided a superb under-18s team also starring Ollie Scarles and George Earthy to the FA Youth Cup in 2023.
“Kev Keen was top with me,” said Mubama. “I had him when I was 16 and he brought me into the under-18s with his team. I had Kev for about two-and-a-half years. He was a top, top bloke. That year when we won the Youth Cup, he treated us like we were first team players. It was under-18s but he was like this scary manager. He was good, brilliant with me.”
Now Mubama is switching his focus to the international stage. He has been summoned to lead the line for England under-21s, won the European Championships in June. He made his debut in a 2-0 win over Kazakhstan last month, setting up a goal for Jobe Bellingham, and is now heading to Moldova (Friday, October 10), as they try to book their place at the next Euros.
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“It’s an unbelievable experience,” he said. “When you’re a young player around my age you want to be pushing to get into that squad. We’ve all seen what Lee Carsley has done and what this squad is capable of doing and it’s always good being in that England set-up. I’m really proud to play for my country and with the best players in my age. It’s great exposure, a top experience.”
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