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Scout Report: Boubacar Kamara

by Pratyush | Jan 29, 2022

In Aztec culture, there were warriors called ‘Jaguars’ in the middle of the 12th century who fought for their people. They came from the people and they were willing to die for the people. On the other hand, there was another rank of warriors- the elites called ‘Eagles’: they never fought on the front lines but they were the ones who always got the recognition while the Jaguars were the ones who did all the hard work, at times sacrificing themselves for the greater good in complete anonymity. Jaguars were never seekers of glory, for they were the seekers of freedom and victory. Defensive midfield is one such position in modern day football which is just like the Jaguar, for they hold the key to absolute glory or complete downfall

Defensive midfielders have become an integral part of modern day football and arguably the most important piece of the puzzle which can elevate the level of your team from underachieving glory seekers to Champions of the World. This is a position where players are under a lot of pressure during the match. A small moment of complacency can change the course of an entire match (and season as well). There is a reason that there are not a lot of younger players whose natural position lies in front of the center backs, shielding and anchoring them from the onslaught of opposition’s marauding players because mastering this position requires a lot of experience, a big reason why a lot of midfielders with great technique and positioning sense start to venture into deeper areas of the midfield when they start to hit the peak of their playing career: the likes of Toni Kroos, Marcelo Brozovic et al who used to play in advanced areas of the midfield during their initial years of career were able to make the switch into the deepest areas of the midfield without any issues when they got enough experience at senior level. Plus, their skillset allowed them to excel in their new role as well.

This is a position where the margin of making errors is paper thin, even the slightest of miscalculations while making a tackle or attempting a pass can result in a change of momentum of the match. And this miscalculation will be amplified the most if it results in an error leading to a goal against your team otherwise the immense work done by the defensive midfielders will go unnoticed since they are ‘the Jaguars’ while the other players are ‘the Eagles’.

The stereotype around the position has been deepened by games like FIFA, PES and half cooked information from the media houses that the players doing majority of the work ‘off the ball’ in the midfield are “CDM”, so the midfielders who may have just the tenacity and good physical build will be casually labeled as defensive midfielders. Many times, black midfielders are casually labeled as ’CDM’ despite their strengths lying further up the pitch. Best example being Tanguy Ndombele being labeled as a defensive midfielder by many British pundits or Ngolo Kante having a “CDM” on his FIFA Card while he hasn’t even played as your typical defensive midfielder in his career (many of whom themselves were brilliant players back in the day, which is ironic that they can’t even judge the pros and cons of the player correctly while being in their place many years back).

Rather than limiting the player to a certain area just on the basis of his/her physical build, people should judge them on the basis of their strengths, weaknesses and how that certain player can maximize these strengths in a team which not only increases the player’s output but boosts the morale of the entire team with consistent performances.

One such player who has had a similar impact on his boyhood club is Olympique Marseille’s Boubacar Kamara.

Player Background

“Bouba”, a nickname given to him by his French mother and Senegalese father, took birth in the city of Marseille. Kamara was born and brought up in a family of hardcore OM supporters, his parents attending every home match. That love was then instilled into a young Bouba as well. At the age of 5, he joined the academy of Olympique de Marseille where he progressed through all the categories, reaching the U19 stage when he was just 15 years of age. Kamara excelled even at the U19 stage despite being the youngest of the bunch. He displayed natural leadership and soon was given the captain’s band. He led his team to the finals of the famed Coupe Gambardella, the cup competition for U19 teams in France. He was soon promoted to OM 2, the reserves team of Olympique de Marseille where he formed a good relationship with then manager Jacques Abardonado who made him an undisputed starter for the reserves team. Soon, the senior team came knocking down on the door. Boubacar Kamara frequently started training with the senior squad and making it into the matchday squads. He finally made his debut for OM against Sochaux-Montbeliard in a Coupe De la Ligue tie where OM lost on penalties. He soon paved his way into the first team, getting more regular minutes under Rudi Garcia. The pinnacle of his OM career has to be the dream run in UEFA Europa League where OM, against all odds, reached the final of 2017-18 edition, at the home ground of their fierce rivals: Olympique de Lyonnais. But, Atletico Madrid proved too strong for this young Marseille side. In less than 5 years, Kamara has already amassed upwards of 100 league games for his boyhood club before turning 22.

Playing Style

His statistical profile shows what Kamara is all about; a ball-winner in multiple forms: winning the ball back in the form of interceptions mostly but at times, pressing the opposition players and duelling. The pressing and duelling numbers seem less, but he has great efficiency in both. The 22-year-old is typically Marseille’s deepest midfielder in possession, comfortable in drawing opponents in through ball retention then bypassing them through silky footwork or combinations with teammates. He has a knack of delivering accurate through balls and diagonal long balls to wingers and fullbacks on opposite flanks to provide verticality in possession phase of the game.

Overall, he is an excellent defensive-minded midfielder. His game sense has developed so much thanks to the plentiful minutes he’s earned at the French club. He started at the senior level as a center-back, but his natural skillset lay further up the pitch, a position where he has excelled now. It was Andre Villas-Boas who regularly played him as a defensive midfielder, shuttling between 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 where he was the player staying back, providing Valentin Rongier to progress the ball further with carries and passing. When playing in a 4-3-3, Kamara’s game shone the strongest, giving him a lot of space and time to start the attacks and protect the defensive line by shielding them during defensive transitions.

On the ball, Kamara handles himself well, and has demonstrated good passing range, vision, and ambition. He is central to Marseille’s build-up play, but this is part and parcel of being the central-most midfielder in the system. Jorge Sampaoli eventually switched to an asymmetrical 3-5-2 shape, where Kamara plays like a #6, typically playing quick, zipped short passes between himself and the teammates around him. He seemingly has a strong understanding of when to pass the ball laterally or vertically.

In possession, Kamara is very conscious of his surroundings, scanning around him before receiving the ball if he can. In this sense, he is quite a press-resistant midfielder, capable of evading pressure and laying off to a more progressive teammate. Outside of his decent progressive abilities as a passer, Kamara is a decent dribbler of the ball, too. The volume and completion rate isn’t the highest but for his role in the team, it is still decent.

One glaring weakness in his game is that he isn’t athletic and agile since his game under various coaches and managers has allowed him to rely on positioning sense rather than raw brute force. He, at times, can be troubled by fast and physical players in open space. But this glaring weakness can be easily fixed with enough experience and coaching. A tenacious box-to-box midfielder alongside him can easily help combat this weakness, which was shown by Morgan Sanson under Andre Villas-Boas. A midfield trio of Kamara, Sanson and Rongier provided a great balance to OM, with Kamara being the watchdog, Sanson being the connector between the watchdog and Rongier who progressed the ball further up the pitch. This resulted in a remarkable comeback to Champions League in 2020 under Villas-Boas.

Now that we are clear about Kamara’s strengths and weaknesses, his style of play should become apparent and derive a logical conclusion that he is an anchorman, with decent ability to recycle possession. He facilitates the progression of the ball rather than progressing the ball himself.

Next destination

With an expiring contract and OM signaling his potential suitors than he can be bought for a cut price 10 million euros in January, this is a sensible piece of business for the clubs who are in market for an anchor man and provide them with a young player with loads of experience for his age in a position where calm and composure is of utmost importance.

Host of clubs in Spain, Italy and England have enquired about Kamara’s availability for an immediate transfer during the winter window including the likes of Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Newcastle United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Juventus (who have Dennis Zakaria as an alternative in their agenda for winter window)

Many sources have linked him with a potential move to Manchester United who are in desperate requirement of a defensive midfielder with Scott McTominay and Fred being the only players suitable to play in a double pivot but both players lacking the spatial awareness to play as the deepest midfielder, which leaves their CBs exposed and out-numbered during transitional play.

Tactical Analysis: Kamara at Manchester United- a case study

In terms of making a rough comparison, Kamara can provide competition to Fred since both players have the tendency to win back balls by the means of interceptions, duelling along with ball retention. But Kamara has the experience of playing in a deeper role and the footballing iq to excel in the same since this is his natural position .

Boubacar Kamara will fix the issues of defending transitions and protection to the back 4 given his natural skill set, but Manchester United will need to recruit at least 1 more playmaking central midfielder who can provide the means to control the tempo of the game from deeper areas of midfield.

Given, Ralf Rangnick still has very little say in the decision making at the club (ironically he was brought for same after leaving his ongoing project at Lokomotiv Moscow abruptly) and his insistence on keeping up with his 4-2-2-2 vertical shape during build-up, Kamara alone will not solve all the issues in the midfield which Manchester United have, at best he can add some quality and depth and provide neck to neck competition to Fred (in ideal scenario: a Boubacar Kamara-Scott McTominay pivot will be more stable and do the work on temporary basis but an upgrade on Scott McTominay is due).

Along with Kamara, Manchester United desperately need a player who can help them progress the ball from deeper areas of midfield, taking the primary load of ball progression from their CBs and LB, dictate the tempo of the game and have a good defensive contribution as an icing on the cake. A host of players who fit the criteria are surprisingly available with the likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Aurelien Tchouameni on the market already. Ismael Bennacer, despite his recent injury issues, has a good amount of quality and ticks all the criteria. Some out of the box options for the same can be Florian Grillistch who, again is available on a free transfer- having conveyed his decision to leave TSG Hoffenheim. Maxime Lopez is having a stellar season for Sassuolo. Cheick Doucoure is another youngster shining in Ligue 1, playing a crucial role in midfield for RC Lens.

Now, the onus is on the higher ups of Manchester United to first figure out how they actually want to run the club first, whether run it like a superclub and buy the biggest names only or step by step fix the issues patiently and accelerate this process when others are showing the signs of transition period. Just as Ralf Rangnick said in a recent Coaches Voice conference: “You can’t have a little bit of this, little bit of that and expect that your football club will grow”.

The fan culture in England has been built on the same ever since the Etonians kicked the ball on their school field yet Manchester United have now gone on to hire a person who is polar opposite of it and very rigid is his stance of building a team. Again, questions about what the club actually wants to do should be asked by the fans rather than “sign someone @ManUnited” on social media.

Manchester United is doing the same for the last 10 years, they had Sir Alex Ferguson for the initial period to steer them clear but after his retirement as manager, Manchester United have still not figured out how they want to do their business which has become their primary motive. Despite spending upwards of billion in every possible currency, they are still years behind their arch rivals in England and Europe while many other clubs are also catching up with them with a fraction of resources. Even from a business point of view, it is a bad sign. You can show the skewed financial figures about revenue and the interactions on social media to the investors at year end meetings but the inefficiency of managing your resources, not only financial but human resources is catching up. You cannot cover these cracks in the foundation with a band-aid anymore when everyone around you is upgrading with changing times (either ethically or unethically- in most of the cases unethically; is a topic for another day).

Why de Gea isn’t a long term solution

by Hrishikesh Dabir | Jan 26, 2022

So far this season, Manchester United have changed 3 managers, struggled to gather any type of momentum and produced a string of subpar performances. After what has undoubtedly been an underwhelming first half of the season for Manchester United, only a select few players can make a case for being consistent throughout an abysmal run of form. David de Gea is one of them. The Spaniard has been consistent throughout this run of poor form, pulling out saves directly from the top drawer and winning matches on his own for the Red Devils. The type of form all Manchester United fans have always associated de Gea with from 3 years ago.

In this piece, we will talk about how David de Gea’s abilities may not exactly complement Manchester United’s plans.

We will be analyzing 4 aspects of David de Gea in this piece, namely his shot-stopping, sweeping, distribution and overall command over the area. We would also be comparing his stats with Dean Henderson to give more of an objective view.

Shot-Stopping

David de Gea has made 71 saves so far this season, with a 72% save percentage. The Spaniard has a PsxG-GA of +6 stat, meaning he has conceded 6 goals less than what has been expected of him. To put this into context, De Gea had a PsxG-GA of +9 in the whole of 2017-18 season, one of his best seasons in a United shirt. All the statistics and the ‘eye test’ suggest that the Spaniard is back to his best in terms of shot-stopping.

If we compare this to other goalkeepers in this league, we can clearly see that de Gea has been one of the best shot-stoppers in the league.

Dean Henderson hasn’t played much this season but if we see his stats from the two seasons he played the most i.e 2019-20 for Sheffield United and 2020-21 for Manchester United, we can see that he is not a slouch when it comes to shot-stopping.

But is shot-stopping the only thing that matters for a Goalkeeper?

Even though shot-stopping still remains one of the most important aspects of being a goalkeeper, the answer to the aforementioned question is no. In modern football, where the majority of the teams depend on building their attacks from the back and also depend on starting their defending from the front in terms of pressing the ball and winning it back, other aspects such as composure, passing and most importantly, sweeping are just as important as shot-stopping.

Distribution

In modern day football, distribution is a key aspect of a Keeper’s game. A few years ago, a keeper having good distribution may have been a luxury, but now, and going forward, it is a necessity. More and more teams are modeling their game around building attacks from the back and being patient and methodical to beat the opposition’s press. The fundamental thing while building up from the back is attracting the opposition press and beating it thus creating enough space for the midfielders to function.

If we look at how Ederson plays for Manchester City then we can understand how crucial it is for a keeper to have good distribution and composure on the ball to build-up play. Ederson is arguably one of the best goalkeepers in terms of sweeping and passing but what makes him so good is his ability to pick out the right passes, beat the opposition press and help his team progress the ball further up the pitch. David de Gea’s distribution is a major weakness in his overall ability.

In this instance, Matic makes a long pass back to De Gea. Telles makes himself available for the ball as seen below but de Gea takes a touch in the opposite direction and ends up kicking it long.

Result: United lose possession as Greenwood is beaten in the air by Digne

Another instance when Telles was in lots of space and calling for the ball but the Spaniard again decides to kick it long, resulting in Manchester United losing possession

Now here is arguably his worst moment from the match. He receives the ball at 53:50, keeps the ball for another 10 secs as no Aston Villa player was pressing him. Varane and Lindelof are available for a pass where he can pass it to them, re-adjust as to attract the press from Aston Villa players and then look for Matic through the middle for either of the fullbacks enabling him to beat Aston Villa’s first line of defence.

Instead, de Gea holds the ball for too long and then eventually kicks it straight to the Villa player resulting in United losing possession of the ball.

There was one moment in the match where de Gea did well. Here, Varane passes the ball back to De Gea. Lindelof gets wide to provide a passing option but instead de Gea picks a clever pass through the middle of the pitch to Fred, thus beating the Villa press.

Fred passes it sideways, Telles picks up the ball and United progress the ball after beating Villa’s first line of defence.

It may not seem like a big thing but these small things are important in what Rangnick has been banging on about since he came in: More control.

Recycling the ball, keeping possession and beating the press in a patient, methodical way is very important to gain control of the matches. This is the reason why Pep Guardiola switched 3 goalkeepers in 3 years when he first came into Manchester City. In modern football, goalkeepers are just as important as the defenders in building play from the back and keeping up the momentum by recycling possession and thus helping the team to have more control of the games. Having more control over matches means that there are fewer opportunities for the opposition to have shots at the goal resulting in the team being less dependent on their goalkeeper to make saves. Making a large number of saves is not a good sign for the goalkeeper or his team.

Of course, Manchester City is way more well-drilled in this regard than Manchester United are. There are also many instances when de Gea wants to pass to someone and the outfield players don’t offer him a viable option. But, it has to be considered that distribution is not De Gea’s best suit and that Dean Henderson’s distribution qualities are better.

Sweeping

Over the past few years, the ‘sweeper-keeper’ role has gained a lot more prominence. Teams have started playing a higher line of defence considering that their goalkeeper can leave his line, get out of the penalty box if required and sweep up any long balls coming their way. It has become a crucial aspect for teams to maintain their shape and momentum.

Sweeping has always been a major weakness in David de Gea’s style of play. If we look at the stats below from his last two seasons, it is evident that he doesn’t offer much in terms of sweeping the ball.

If we compare his sweeping with all the other goalkeepers in the Premier League, it makes for a pretty grim reading.

De Gea ranks among the lowest sweepers in the whole league. Alisson and Ederson, unsurprisingly, among the best. And even at a team like Burnley, Nick Pope is excelling as a sweeper-keeper proving that sweeping is an important aspect of goalkeeping despite the system.

Now here are Dean Henderson’s stats for the 2020-21 season and also the 2019-20 season.

Dean Henderson averages a lot more sweeping actions per90 than his Spanish counterpart while at Manchester United so it is fair to say that we can eliminate the possibility of it being down to coaching instructions. Even at Sheffield United, in a much more conservative team than Manchester United, Dean Henderson had more sweeping actions than DDG.

If we are to jot it down, de Gea would be labeled as an ‘on-the-line’ keeper who doesn’t offer much movement outside the 6-yard box. That is fine if the team depends on low blocks and a deeper defensive line. But, if a team is married to playing a high defensive line, then the goalkeeper must have good capabilities in sweeping long balls behind the defence. De Gea falters a lot in that aspect and it is evident that Dean Henderson is a much better ‘sweeper-keeper’ than David de Gea.

Command of the Box

Now, this is one aspect of goalkeeping that is not synonymous with being a modern-day goalkeeper. Having command over the 6-yard box was just as important 12 years ago as it is today. But what does it actually mean?

Having command over the box means how much of the area around the goal can the goalkeeper cover. It might mean being as loud as you can while commanding the defenders to take up areas that might be out of scope for the goalkeeper. It might mean adjusting your starting position depending on the type of cross that comes in order to give yourself the best chance of claiming it or punching it.

Having command over the box is most helpful while defending set plays and/or playing against a team that depends a lot on their crossing or long balls into the box to create their chances. Claiming crosses helps a goalkeeper in having to make fewer saves as it is an outlet that completely kills the opposition attack.

A constant dialogue between the defenders and the goalkeeper can go a long way in having control over the box. Defenders can control the areas as instructed by the keeper and the goalkeeper can make sure he can command an area that might be difficult for the defenders to control.

David de Gea claims 4.2% of the total crosses attempted by the opposition which ranks him the lowest percentile of goalkeepers in the whole league for the 2021-22 season.

As we can see, David De Gea’s ability to collect crosses is quite poor compared to his counterparts in the Premier League.

We will once again compare Dean Henderson’s stats with David de Gea in this regard.

If we look at the blue sections in the above graphs, we can see that Dean Henderson is much more proactive when in goal. He sweeps more, claims more crosses and has a better overall presence in the box as a goalkeeper.

Ideally, a goalkeeper should not be required to make a lot of saves. Obviously, this depends more on the defence in front of him but in today’s day and age, the overall style of play of a goalkeeper has as much of an impact too. While Dean Henderson may not be as good of a shot-stopper as De Gea, his shot-stopping is still very good and the Englishman seems to be better at the other aspects than his Spanish counterpart.

Coming back to his shot-stopping, this below viz, courtesy of Rahul ( @exceedingxpuns on Twitter), makes for an interesting reading.

If we closely look at De Gea’s trend, we could see that the Spaniard massively underperforms his shot-stopping capabilities when Manchester United seemed to have more control whereas he was over-performing when the Red Devils face a lot of shots. In short, when Manchester United had more control of the games, De Gea faltered but when United don’t seem to have control, De Gea outperforms himself. This could be taken as an indication that De Gea might not be the man to take Manchester United forward if they are aiming to control more games.

Conclusion

The first thing that Manchester United need to figure out is what style of play they want to implement in the team. If the club wants someone who can defend leads, is a bit more pragmatic in his approach and likes to play a deeper defensive line as their next manager, then David de Gea should retain his no.1 spot. Otherwise, if they want to go with a manager who likes to keep a high line, likes to press higher and control the game in the sense of having more of the ball, something which you can say is expected of a ‘top team’, then evidence suggests that Dean Henderson would be a better option going forward.

Currently, Manchester United’s style of play does not suit David de Gea’s style of play. There are indeed a lot of other issues Manchester United have such as lacking a deeper-lying progressive midfielder and various structural issues which leaves the team vulnerable to counter-attacks. The Spaniard’s presence as a shot-stopper is proving to be somewhat of a positive currently. But, if Manchester United want to have more of a presence as a team that likes to play on the front foot, then Dean Henderson’s as the no.1 goalkeeper would be a bigger net positive for the Red Devils compared to his Spanish counterpart.

Scout Report: Karim Adeyemi

by Arka Maity | Jan 21, 2022

After an extraordinary summer transfer window which saw many big names switch their allegiance it’s time for the wonderkids to realise their dream of playing for a big club. The winter window will be quiet but the upcoming summer window will see a lot of clubs bidding for a host of young talents. Among the popular names, there’s a lesser known player who has turned the eyes of many clubs like Liverpool,Barcelona and Dortmund. Karim Adeyemi has had one impressive performance after another and is the next big thing to come out of RB Salzburg’s amazing talent factory.

Player Background-

Name- Karim Adeyemi

DOB- Jan 19,2002(19)

Country – Germany

Height- 177CM

Foot- Left

Wage- € 8,120 p/w

Positions – CF,LW,RW

Similar players- Timo Werner,Breel Embolo,Ben Yedder

Adeyemi started his career at the age of 8 at FC Forstenreid after which he moved to the youth system of Bayern Munich. It didn’t go well for him at Bayern and he soon moved to SpVgg Unterhaching in Germany where he began to show glimpses of his talent. RB Salzburg signed him up in 2018 and immediately sent him to their feeder club FC Liefering. He impressed there so much that he was shortly called back to Salzburg’s main team to be part of their attacking force.

Playing Style-

Adeyemi, who’s left-footed, likes to play in the centre forward position but he can be equally menacing on the wings. His style of play is very direct,intense and energetic. He likes to dribble and also likes to run behind defenders which makes marking him a big task. Coupled with his blistering pace, he has great balance and agility, thus making him difficult to contain during counters.

Here’s a Pizza Percentile chart of Adeyemi over the last 365 days in European competitions.

Although last season he was used mostly as a sub, this season he has been their preferred man upfront and he has given a great return. He has scored 14 times this season in 15 starts at a rate of 0.8 p/g. He has taken 2.7 shots p/g with 1.5 of them on target. He has a penchant for dribbling and then taking a shot, a characteristic feature found in many goalscoring wingers. Coming to chance creation, he has given 2 assists while giving 1.2 key passes p/g. So apart from scoring, he can create goals for his teammates although he will look to improve his passing if he wants to fit in a system which needs him to keep the possession. He has a dribble success rate of 46% with 2.1 dribbles p/g. He wins 3.5 duels p/g, an amazing number which shows his defensive ability.

If we look the heatmap we can understand that he’s played in the wider areas more this season,especially on the left. He’s actually best suited as the left sided CF in a front two. Not a traditional line leading CF, but someone who tends to operate in the wider areas whilst also roaming in the central areas to score goals.Therefore he can be used as a wide winger and also as a winger who likes to cut in and create chances

Given the fact that he is still very young, his decision making can sometimes be rash, a thing which can be polished by proper coaching. Sometimes he tries to do too much with the ball often which might give the defence time to settle or block his passing lanes. Adeyemi’s best ability is finishing, he has that keen eye for goal and he takes very well placed shots which is a rare attribute at this age.In tight areas,he breezes past defenders and cuts in swiftly, either taking a shot or setting up a teammate. When he’s in wide areas, he tries to cut inside on either wing rather than whipping in a cross,some attributes of an inside forward or a second striker. Rather than leading the forward line, he would be the one dropping a little deep and moving his way forward as he makes spaces for his teammates. He interprets the space around him and can dribble his way out or play a slick one two and move in open areas where he has the advantage. Adeyemi’s off the ball movement is really good which makes him a perfect player for teams which attack spaces and rely on off-the-ball movement.Coming to his weaknesses, Adeyemi is a poor passer as of now and needs to work on that aspect. If he plays in a possession based team he’ll have to contribute in the build up with quick thinking and passing. Also he will have to improve his movement in tight areas as he won’t get so much space in other big leagues. That being said, he works hard and tries to do the best with every opportunity he gets on the ball. Hopefully he can overcome his shortcomings and develop his stronger areas to suit whatever team he plays for.

**Adeyemi giving a cross to his teammate.**

**Adeyemi getting at the end of a cross.**

**Adeyemi’s precise movement into the box which led to a goal**

Conclusion:

Salzburg play an attractive brand of football, pressing high up the pitch and relying heavily on constant off-the-ball movements. Adeyemi is generally the one who starts the press upfront, and is adept at troubling defences with his blindside runs and mazy dribbling. As he’s very young, he can be moulded into any kind of forward as the manager wants because of his diverse skillset which suits a lot of tactics. If he fits in a system perfectly he will be a force to reckon with. Barcelona,Dortmund,Bayern and Liverpool are the clubs who fancy his signature and rightly so. At a price of about 40 million euros, he can become an asset to any team and under the right manager and tactics, he can flourish and become a player whom everyone will love to watch.

Search for a CM: Bruno Guimaraes

by Varun | Jan 10, 2022

Current contract: Jan, 2020 to June 2024 (2.5 years left)
Current wage: £46,000 per week
Market value: £27m
Rumored Transfer fee: €45m (£38m)

Fabrizio Romano recently tweeted that Lyon want at least €45m for Guimaraes which is a pretty reasonable ask for such a talented player who has more than 2 years left on his contract still.

Arsenal have been the club linked most to the Brazilian but as of January 6th, Guimaraes had this to say: “Arsenal approached my agent, but there was no offer. My aim, and I made it clear to Juninho, is to win a title with Lyon. My aim is to win a title here, but I have never hidden my desire to play in the Premier League.”

This probably rules out a winter move unless a very compelling offer comes in. It also opens up the playing field for other clubs, especially in the PL. Given the high competition for his signature and low United link, we might have to cut some marks, but overall his openness to the Premier League and the rumored transfer fee make this a very attractive and realistic proposition for United.

Transfer Chances: 8/10

This brings our final scores to:

Technical Fitment: 8/10
Tactical Fitment: 7/10
Transfer Chances: 8/10
Overall Devil’s DNA score: 8/10

So there you have it. Guimaraes looked like he was the best option among our shortlist, but further inspection has uncovered that he might not be the 10/10 target that we had hoped for, thanks to his defensive transition weakness, doubts over a deep holding role and transfer competition. Overall, he still offers a huge upgrade on what United have, is probably the best young progressor in Europe and could fix United’s progression issues immediately all at a very modest transfer fee, which still make him a top transfer target.

Whom would you like to see covered next from our shortlist?

Bruno Guimarães – 8/10
Maxime Lopez
Ismaël Bennacer
Florian Grillitsch
Aurélien Tchouaméni
Cheick Doucouré
Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa

Search for a CM: Winter Shortlist

by Varun | Dec 20, 2021

We started this series in summer 2021 using data to create a shortlist of players in the top 5 leagues who can be Manchester United’s much-needed midfield starter. This was the article and shortlist we stumbled upon. Since then, United have not bought a CM, 2 of the shortlisted names have moved to other clubs and some new candidates have emerged this season, which is why we are going to take a fresh approach to uncover the perfect midfielder United need. By the end of this article, we will arrive at a new shortlist that the Red Devils should seriously be looking at as winter transfer targets to help Rangnick achieve his interim goals.

A few notes before we start:

1. Only players from the top 5 leagues have been considered. We have covered reports of some non-top-5 players (Like Koopmeiners) before and will continue to do the same but for this analysis and shortlisting we are sticking to the top 5 leagues to keep the dataset limited

2. The filters are taken based on what I feel is needed most in United’s midfield – a profile we have lacked in recent times and one that would go well with our existing setup. More will be explained below, but a different shortlist could emerge for a totally different profile. This is simply my idea of what United need most

3. All stats are from Fbref.com (via Statsbomb)

The Role

Before we get into the process, we first need to decide the midfield role we are aiming for. Our summer shortlist article explained why a deep-lying playmaker is what is needed and that logic hasn’t changed even after Ole’s sacking. Whether Rangnick or the new manager plays a pivot or mid 3, the fact is that we don’t have anyone in midfield that can help build up, playmake and defend transitions. Matic comes closest but age has caught up to him. Think of our new player as a Matic replacement.

Additionally, all our existing profiles – Fred, McTominay, Pogba, Van de Beek and even Garner and Mejbri in future – enjoy going forward and affecting the final 3rd while none have deep playmaking or positional traits. Fred has mostly been shoehorned in a deeper role for 2.5 years but he has shown on multiple occasions that he excels more in a box-to-box role. To summarize, the new CM needs to be someone who is an elite passer, great progressor and good at the fine art of positioning. Someone with high defensive actions (pressing, tackling etc.) and a willingness to roam from his position to make final 3rd runs or press ahead is NOT what we want since we already have players for it.

Below is a percentile chart of Matic of the last 365 days. That’s more or less the profile we are going for. A younger and more mobile Matic who is capable of playing in a pivot as well as mid 3 would be ideal.

The Process

Let’s dive into the process.

STEP 1: I downloaded all passing, defending and carrying stats per 90 for all top 5 league players from Fbref. Using Transfermarkt’s position data we first filter out all players except central midfielders and defensive midfielders (credit to @jaseviz, @NinadB_06, @exceedingxpuns for the position dataset).

Next we filter out all players who have not even played 7 90s this season. Most teams have played 15 to 18 league games so far, so expecting our man to at least rack up 40% of his team’s gametime seems fair. Anything lesser indicates he might not be ready for a step up to United or is too injury-prone.

Next, I converted all the stats into percentiles. Within our data set of top 5 league midfielders with greater than 7 90s, every stat has now been ranked from 1 percentile to 99 percentile. For eg. The lowest progressive passes per 90 within this data set is represented by 1 percentile while the highest will be 99 percentile.

STEP 2: To give a visual angle to the process I have loaded the dataset we just created onto Tableau. I’ve kept Progressive passes per 90 percentile and Passes into final 3rd per 90 percentile on both axes purely for aesthetic reasons.

We can see that about 250 midfielders in the top 5 leagues are spread out over the graph. Let’s start with our filters.

Based on our discussion on the role so far, if I had to pick 3 stats that are most important for the new CM, they would be Pass completion %, Progressive passes and Passes into final 3rd. We need our CM to be an elite passer, safe yet progressive and someone the whole game goes through, especially in the build up and progression phases. Given the high importance, I am going to use filters to keep only those midfielders who boast >70 percentile on all 3 passing metrics. The results are as follows:

This actually cleared up a huge population immediately. Not many players can pull off a 70+ percentile on the 3 passing metrics and it shows. We can see Thiago Alcantara sitting at the top for the 2 progressive passing metrics after the filtering, which gives a good indicator of the kind of playmaker we wanted thanks to this filter. So far, so good. Let’s continue with a few more filters to get our ideal CM.

STEP 3: Our next most important set of traits are carrying. Though not as important as passing, we do need someone who is progressive in his carrying as well. Nemanja Matic is United’s highest progressive carrier in the last 2 seasons. This doesn’t imply that he’s a great dribbler or even an aggressive carrier. It just implies that he has the ability to carry the ball from deeper areas when the opportunity arises. Someone too static or glued to the defensive 3rd might not be ideal. Considering United will be playing teams that sit back and concede possession more often, our CM should be adept at getting the ball out of defence.

We use a >60 percentile filter for Progressive dribble distance per 90 and Progressive carries per 90 on the current graph. Here’s the result:

Not much of a culling this time. Most of the top playmakers in Europe are progressive via passing and carrying at the same time. A few players like Casemiro got cut which probably indicates we are on the right track. We don’t need a static mid 3 DM player who isn’t progressive in his carrying.

STEP 4: Moving on, we come to our next set of filters – defending. To reiterate, we don’t need any aggressive defending traits from our CM. Pressing and tackling at the cost of positional discipline is a NO, especially considering the fact that the new CM might be paired with Fred/Scott who are already good at that. Positioning is a tough trait to create data filters for, but I am going to suggest 2 stats that come close to describing it – Pressure success % and Interceptions.

While we don’t need a high pressing player, we do need a high success presser, someone who wins the ball most of the time he tries – a careful and measured player who holds position but comes out successful when he decides to press. Interceptions are also a mark of good positioning. We’d rather have our man drop into deeper areas, calculate where the pass is being played and intercept it rather than push up and press the passer playing it. Finding a deeper operator who intercepts the ball before it reaches the opponent attackers in central areas is the aim here. This is key to defend transitions which we struggle with thanks to our players often initiating a tackle or press in transitions (Our detailed article on this issue – here).

This is probably a low criticality criteria compared to passing and carrying. So we are going to set a nominal filter of >40 percentile on Pressure Success % and Interceptions per 90. Let’s see the result:

Even with such low value filters, the graph has cleaned up a lot, which goes to show how tough these traits are to manage along with high levels of progression and playmaking. The likes of Fabian Ruiz and Frenkie De Jong got cut from the data which probably highlights that we are on the right path. Those are elite playmakers, but probably a holding role behind someone like Fred or Pogba might not be ideal for them.

STEP 5: We’re in the endgame now. Traits-wise our data set seems really sorted now. Our final filter is an obvious one – age. We want young/peak players who can sign for United and remain as a key starter for a while.

So my final act will be to filter out players above the age of 27. Here goes:

And we are left with 7 players! The likes of Thiago Alcantara, Luka Modric and Kevin Kampl who are too old and established to buy as a logical key starter for United have been eliminated. We are left with 7 U27 players who are either at their peak or approaching their peak and are realistically buyable.

The Shortlist

I applied a weighted average formula to give 50% weightage to the 3 passing stats, 30% weightage to the 2 dribbling stats and 20% weightage to the 2 defending stats to come up with a final suitability percentage. Here are the 7 players in order of suitability with their details:

Name	Club	League	Age	Suitability
Bruno Guimarães	Lyon	Ligue 1	24	85.6%
Maxime Lopez	Sassuolo	Serie A	24	85.1%
Ismaël Bennacer	Milan	Serie A	24	82.3%
Florian Grillitsch	Hoffenheim	Bundesliga	26	82.3%
Aurélien Tchouaméni	Monaco	Ligue 1	21	79.7%
Cheick Doucouré	Lens	Ligue 1	21	75.8%
Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa	Napoli	Serie A	26	74.4%

The top 3 names here represent highly suitable players for the role and are all aged 24, making them prime candidates to become immediate key starters in United’s midfield. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that buying one of them and pairing with our existing midfielders would improve the team immensely. Guimarães, Lopez and Bennacer are probably must-buys for United at this point.

Grillitsch might be slightly older but represents a very good option given his suitability. He is having contract issues and could be available for cheap/free soon. Tchouameni and Doucoure’s lower suitability compared to the the top 3 is simply a consequence of their younger age and slightly defensive-bent profile (which we gave lesser weightage for). If they are bought and developed for a top team possession game, they could be excellent as well. Zambo Anguissa is probably the lowest priority target given his age and suitability, but could be a good cut-price option or 2nd buy from the list in case we need 2 midfielders given our midfield situation.

So that’s that, folks! Given United’s midfield gap and the realistic options in the market, these 7 could prove to be the best bets to plug that gaping hole in the starting XI. United should be buying 1-2 of these players within the next 2-3 windows.

As an extension of this series, we will be doing individual scout reports of these players over the next few months (Like we had done for Locatelli in the summer here). Do let us know which player’s scout report you would like to read first.

Scout Report: Takehiro Tomiyasu

by Pratyush | Aug 27, 2021

The Transfer Market is down upon us. Who would have thought that Lionel Messi will actually be shown as a free agent on Transfermarkt and free to talk to other clubs (changing clubs eventually) or Cristiano Ronaldo will return back to Manchester (but joining the blue half of Manchester). In this window, there has been a certain pattern visible among top clubs. It is the out flux of superstar players from Serie A to clubs in different leagues with better financial condition- Rodrigo De Paul finally earning his big move to Los Rojiblancos- Atletico Madrid. Achraf Hakimi leaving Inter Milan to join Paris Saint Germain which has arguably become the biggest sports washing project in the history of football. Hakimi’s team mate at Inter Milan and their talisman, Romelu Lukaku also decided to move to European Champions, Chelsea FC in a staggering 115 million euros move. Lukaku will be rejoining the club, exactly 10 years after he first joined the club. But this time he joins as an experienced, mature and proven striker rather than a youth prospect, ready to prove his naysayers in England wrong, again. Cristian Romero, right after becoming the Defender of the year in Italy has switched his allegiance to Tottenham Hotspur along with his Atalanta team-mate, Pierluigi Gollini.

One more player from Serie A is also on the eyesights of various clubs. His versatility will be a vital factor to become a key player for his future club and national team. This article will be looking at Bologna’s Takehiro Tomiyasu.

Player Profile

Born in Fukuoka, Japan, Tomiyasu was first scouted by the Mitsuzuki Kickers’ general manager Kanji Tsuji and was impressed with his performance. His passing and acceleration were standout among his peers. At the age of eleven, he was persuaded to join FC Barcelona’s youth camp in Japan. After a series of trials with the Catalan club, he was given the opportunity to join the club and move to Spain. But difficulty in relocation to Spain saw this move crumble down. After failing to join FC Barcelona, Tomiyasu joined Avispa Fukuoka. He initially started as a midfielder but once he progressed through the ranks at youth level, he was converted into a defender- capable of playing anywhere along the back line. He was transitioned into the first team at the ending stage of 2015-16 season and he eventually became a first team player next season, filling in in defensive midfield, center back and right back position.

By this time, some European sides also started to scout him. But it was the Belgian side Sint-Triuden who won the race to sign Takehiru, all thanks to their Japanese owners who have, over the years provided a good platform to Japanese players to start their European journey without any undue pressure. This happened to be the same case with Tomiyasu who took his good amount of time initially to settle down but delivered all the goods in his first full season with the club. At the end of 2018-19 season, Italian side Bologna decided to sign the now Japanese International in a deal worth 9 million euros, a plusavenza (profit) of 8 million for Sint-Triuden, also becoming the record sale of Belgian side.

The Japanese International this time took no time to settle down and started to show his talent to the world. After 2 good seasons with Bologna under their manager, once an iconic player of Serie A in his playing days, Sinisa Milhajovic. Takehiro Tomiyasu has now earned the praises of many critics in Italy and even abroad.

Playing Style

Takehiro Tomiyasu is a player whose position is difficult to pin down, other than ‘defender’. He is right-footed and comfortable playing as a right-back or as a right wing-back but he is also capable of playing as a central defender and he thrives as either a left or right-sided central defender in a back three or even as a center back in back 4, equally capable of playing either as a stopper or a cover.

**Takehiro Tomiyasu’s heat map- 2020-21 season**

One of the strengths of Tomiyasu’s game is his ability and willingness to drive forward in possession of the ball. This will be a big factor for teams trying to build up their game from the back. Tomiyasu made 909 passes with his right foot last season, 467 with his left. He clearly is comfortable passing with both feet even if he prefers his right foot, making him extremely valuable in tactical flexibility, linking up play, and press resistance. Tomiyasu completes .17 key passes / 90. Additionally, he completes 8.22 progressive passes / 90. That said, it’s clear that Tomiyasu is very influential in progressing play not just through advanced positioning and short passes but also medium to long passes as well. His ability to get involved in the final third further proves that. He completes 7.04 passes into the area, with a success rate of 78%. Bologna tend to play an up-tempo kind of possession football and attack down the right-hand side, which is where Tomiyasu is located and has developed a good understanding with Riccardo Orsolini. They play an aggressive, high-pace style of football which is usually met with an aggressive style of play back. Mihajlović’s favoured formations are 4-2-3-1 and variations of the 4-3-3 which seem to fit Tomiyasu’s strengths fairly well. They play with width, which is where Tomiyasu is at his most comfortable. Bologna do not aim to play counterattacking football. They prefer to use aggressive pressing out of possession, to get the ball back, and control possession in the opponent’s half.

**Takehiro Tomiyasu positioning himself in the attacking phase of the game against Genoa**

The Japanese has a good ‘physical’ build which a lot of Premier League fans and pundits look for in any new signing coming to England (even though there is no correlation between this physical strength and modern-day game in England). He is strong at reading the game, seeing passes happen before they are made. He is equally capable of putting himself in positions to intercept the ball. His concentration and teamwork are impressive skills for a player his age to have, as it tends to be the case that young players lack these mental attributes, before their technical traits. His jump from Japan to Belgium and then to Italy and performing well beyond expectations is a testament to his mental attributes. He is an aggressive ball winner who always presses to win back the ball. 135 of Tomiyasu’s 346 presses last season came in the middle third. He’s third amongst Serie A defenders in recoveries (action that wins the ball and leads to at least 5 seconds of team possession) and second in the league for counter-pressing recoveries (4.41 p/ 90, recovering the ball within 5 seconds of the opposition team gaining possession). A lot of this is due to his placement in the system, as he plays high up the pitch in possession when Bologna squeeze.

**Takehiro Tomiyasu trying to cover the space and cut passing options against Juventus**

As any modern full-back, he also has an important role offensively too. His teamwork and crossing ability allow him to get past the opposition defence and attempt to create a scoring opportunity. His dribbling ability and technique are also important he can effectively get past his man and produce a quality pass in the final third. He is a strong dribbler, as he completes more take-ons than he fails, with an impressive 66% take-on completion rate. He puts in a decent amount of defensive work, and as Bologna do not tend to dominate the ball every game- Sinisa Milhajovic tries to change the playing style and players according to opposition’s strengths and weaknesses. He finds himself in defensive duels more often than attacking rotations. From viewing his attacking efforts, it is clear to see that when he does roam forward, he is fairly competent for a defender his age. All this as a collective leads to an xGBuildup per 90 of 0.29. This is a figure looked favourably upon when compared to other defenders in Serie A.

**Takehiro Tomiyasu looking for passing options**

Conclusion

Takehiro Tomiyasu is a well-rounded player who has had played in multiple systems over the years and has taken less time to adapt to new conditions- at such a young age for a footballer. A versatile player like will always be an asset for teams who are trying to push towards an aggressive counter pressing cum possession-oriented approach of football.

He is at a junction in his career where he can easily make a jump to the ‘big teams’ (no disrespect to Bologna here). A host of Premier League teams including Tottenham have shown concrete interest in him. A modest price of 25 million euros may just be enough for teams to secure a signing which can set their defensive unit for good period. Even teams in Bundesliga can consider him as a quality versatile option, especially Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich who need a reliable right back option to boost their squad depth.

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