Kazenga LuaLua

Kazenga LuaLua (born 10 December 1990) is an English–Congolese professional footballer who plays as a winger.

Born in Kinshasa, LuaLua moved to England shortly after his birth.

He moved to Newcastle as a youngster, as his older brother Lomana LuaLua was signed by Newcastle United.

Kazenga progressed in Newcastle's youth academy, and played for the reserve team.

He was part of the Newcastle youth team that reached the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup in the 2005–06 season.

He was called up to the senior squad for the first time for the FA Cup third-round game against Birmingham City on 6 January 2007.

At just 16 years and 27 days old, LuaLua would have been the youngest player to play for Newcastle: the record is currently held by Steve Watson.

LuaLua finally made his first-team debut on 6 January 2008, coming on in the 74th minute of an FA Cup third-round game against Stoke City as a substitute for Damien Duff.

LuaLua made his Premier League debut on 19 January 2008, coming on as a substitute again for Duff at St James' Park in a match against Bolton Wanderers and went on to make several appearances for the first team later that season.

All four of his appearances game in the league where the Yorkshire club finished 14th of the 2008–09 Championship season.

In January 2009 LuaLua signed for Doncaster Rovers of the Championship on loan until the end of the season.

On 9 February 2010, LuaLua joined League One side Brighton & Hove Albion on loan, initially for one month.

LuaLua was recommended to Brighton manager Gus Poyet by Dennis Wise.

LuaLua rejoined Brighton on loan for four months on 30 August 2010.

He then made his debut back at Brighton on 11 September 2010 and made it one to remember scoring a rocket 25-yard free kick in style and celebrating with his famous double backflip.

He won the Football League Young Player of the Month in October 2010.

On 13 November LuaLua broke his leg playing against Hartlepool United in a League One game.

LuaLua shortly returned to Newcastle to make his recovery, and expressed his hope that he may play again in the 2010–11 season.

Gus Poyet stated that LuaLua played a key part in Brighton's promotion to the Championship.

LuaLua remained at Newcastle for treatment and made his first Premier League appearance of the season in a 2–2 draw with Chelsea on the penultimate week of the season.

It was LuaLua's dangerous run and cut inside around Branislav Ivanović which won Newcastle the corner leading to their late equaliser.

LuaLua rejoined Brighton on a six-month loan with a view to a permanent deal on 16 July 2011.

He signed a permanent deal with Brighton for an undisclosed fee on 21 November 2011.

LuaLua scored his first goal as a permanent Brighton player on 14 February 2012, a long-range free kick that tied a home match against Millwall 2–2.

LuaLua's goal came two minutes before the end and salvaged a point for Brighton.

The next Sunday, LuaLua scored a free-kick into the Kop End at Anfield in the FA Cup, against Liverpool as Brighton lost 6–1.

With competition from fellow wingers Craig Noone, Will Buckley and Vicente, LuaLua swapped between starting and coming off the bench as an impact substitute in the following weeks.

LuaLua featured regularly for Brighton in the 2014–15 season, making 38 appearances in all competitions and scoring four goals.

On 7 August 2015, LuaLua scored the opening goal of the 2015–16 Football League Championship, which eventually was the winning goal against Nottingham Forest.

LuaLua made a total of 22 appearances in all competitions for Brighton in the 2015–16 season, scoring four goals.

LuaLua found opportunities limited at Brighton in the 2016–17 season as the south coast club secured promotion to the Premier League, only featuring for the Seagulls five times throughout the first half of the season in all competitions, and he did not make a senior appearance for the club after the month of August.

On 10 January 2017, LuaLua joined Queens Park Rangers on loan until the end of the 2016/2017 season.

LuaLua scored one goal in 11 games throughout his loan spell, a backheel against Preston North End.

The loan move was terminated on 1 December 2017, with LuaLua making eight league appearances for the R's in his second spell at the club.

He subsequently joined Sunderland on a free transfer, signing a short term contract with the Black Cats until the end of the 2017–18 season.

At the end of the 2017–18 season, following Sunderland's relegation, he was released by the club.

After Brighton's promotion to the Premier League, LuaLua was deemed surplus to requirements, and as such he re-joined QPR on a second loan spell until January 2018.

On 25 January 2018, Brighton and LuaLua reached a mutual agreement to terminate his contract, with it having been set to expire in the summer of 2018.

On 26 September 2018, LuaLua signed for Luton Town on a contract until the end of the 2018–19 season.

He scored his first goal for Luton in a 3–0 EFL Trophy victory over Milton Keynes Dons on 9 October.