Finding a "creative winger" project.
As of this season, Barcelona desperately need reinforcements, as they are going down what looks like a never-ending downwards slope. Amongst such reinforcements, a quick and creative 1v1 threat, who could operate on both flanks, would be highly desired. This could help contain the opposition teams’ pressing and prevent them from operating too high into Barcelona’s half, which would give more space and time to Barcelona’s deeper players during build-up (the CBs + DMs), as well as offer them a passing option which, if found, could put the opposition team in danger, and on top of this, it could impact positively the performances of his surrounding partners (Baldé with whom he’d be constantly connected on the left wing ; De Jong who is in the habit of sending long crosses to whoever occupies the left half-space ; etc…).
But a few weeks ago, Nico William’s contract was renewed, possibly slowing down the catalans’ interest in him. Thus, when the announcement was made, I looked for potential winger replacements that Barcelona could target instead of him, as I didn’t see him go anywhere in the upcoming summer, because of his 60 million euros release clause and the genuine happiness he seems to feel when playing for Bilbao.
When looking for his “replacement”, I looked for a player matching the following criterias, which I judged appropriate for the purpose of this research :
50%-70% of success rate for short and medium-range passes
30%-60% of success rate for long-range passes
0.60-0.70 crosses/90
0.30-0.60 shot assists/90
0.65 2nd assists/90
0.50 1st/2nd/3rd assists/90
40% of success rate for smart/penetrative passes
0.60 smart passes attempted/90
0.65 progressive passes/90
50% of success rate when dribbling
0.50-0.70 accelerations made/90
0.15 tackles & interceptions & slide tackles made/90
0.10 successful defensive actions + tackles & interceptions/90
0.20 fouls drawn/90
played 1000 minutes minimum.
To guide my research, I have used @BeGriffis’s data tool, available here : https://football-prospect-research-made-by-bengriffis.streamlit.app/ , in order to identify financially realistical replacements to Nico Williams.
Using this tool, I have ended up making two lists of players which Barcelona could find useful in order to have a 1v1 threat in the team. The first was made using criterias that were less strict and less demanding of the players, while the second list was made after I chose to make the entry level for players in this shortlist harder to pass, therefore tweaking the statistical criterias a bit.
Now, here are the lists of players I have found that meet the criterias I have chosen to judge them by :
1st list :
2nd list :
I couldn’t scout all of these players, but for the ones I was able to see, I established reports that you will find below this tweet. Let’s discover them !
1st player, from the 1st list : Nico Vallejo, Talleres Córdoba.
Nicolas Vallejo is a 19 year-old Argentinian winger, who recently signed on loan to Talleres Cordoba, from Independiente.
From what I have seen, Nico Vallejo plays the majority of the time on the right hand-side of the pitch, usually as a right-half-space operator, either by starting there or by cutting inside from the touchline. However, he seems to also be able to hold width momentarily during each game, as long as his right-back companion is able to bring him support. That allows them to create confusing but powerful overlapping/underlapping partnerships on the right side of the pitch, and it allows Vallejo to exploit his decent crossing and/or cutback abilities. Although I said that he can hold width partly, he still looks like a central threat above all. This goal against Bolivar illustrates it well :
We can see him starting the play from a very central area inside of the opponents’ last third, lay off the pass for a free teammate, then run into a central pocket of space to score the goal. This clip demonstrates some of his qualities as much as it does some of his flaws : he is good to identify where the space is and how to exploit it with a good run ; he knows how to simply lay off a pass for a free teammate (which sounds obvious but isn’t in reality, even for some “elite” footballers) ; he seems good in front of goal, and seems to know how to keep his composure in order to control the ball so well and then score in an instant, in an area where he receives all the pressure and has to make the quickest of decisions. But, for all of these qualities, there are two flaws one can nit-pick about with Nico Vallejo : over-reliance on his right foot, which is his strong foot (which limits his game and closes down passing angles for him, angles he could exploit better if he used his left foot more frequently) and maybe the fact he rushes his decisions sometimes, which is something we evidently see in the aforementioned clip, with the example of the very first pass he tries to pull off but fails to (he might need to add pausa to his game to progress in this aspect).
Another aspect that might need to be worked on from him might be his back-to-goal game, as he receives a lot of ball to his feet, but adding this trait could diversify his arsenal.
I mentioned that Vallejo is a player usually deployed on the right side of the pitch. However, he is also able to play as a left-winger. From what I have seen of him in this role, he seems to be more incisive when deployed as such, whereas he would float more around the box and proceed to penetrate it centrally if he was a right-winger. This is explainable thanks to his strong foot bias, again. As a left-winger, he is able to replicate what he does on the right : alternate between holding the width and cutting inside afterwards, or starting occasions in the left half-space.
In general, he is gifted with a great technical proficiency, most notably when dribbling, an exercise in which he isn’t scared to take calculated risks, especially when close to the touchline, or when associating play with his teammates, in one-two passing circuits, link-up plays, etc…As per his numbers, he is a quite capable short-range passer, and a quite intelligent one at that, allowing him not too be restricted to the role of a “raw dribbler/1v1 specialist”.
Here is the player’s radar for the current Argentina LPF season, according to Wyscout :
Savio, Girona :
Replays of Girona games are quite hard for me to get my hands on, which is why I’ve turned to @tyla7ii for the analysis of Savio’s game. @tyla7ii describes him as a “proper ‘1v1 demon’”, who possesses a “nice creative ceiling and skillset” as well as a notable “final ball”. Though he may seem “one-dimensional” and “not as effective off the left”, he comes into his own when used on the right side of the attack, as it “opens up his shooting angles [as a left-footed player]” and allows him to “function as a proper two-way winger”, which in turn “increases his creative influence”.
While watching him play on the right-side of the attack and in “a slower gamestate”, @tyla7ii states that Savio is a very capable and intelligent dribbler in his approach, as he makes sure to :
“receive on his front foot”, which allows him to “move the ball closer to his marker”
“fix the fullback”, in order to “wait for fullback to strike” and have more chances of succeeding in his endeavour
“shift weight” in order to “take advantage of the unbalanced marker”
While stating that Savio needs refining, @tyla7ii mentions that he might “play the game too fast” (as in he prefers to attempt to drive the ball past his marker and dribble him rather than keeping the ball at his feet a little longer, which would be the best solution sometimes), and adds that leaving Girona for an environment which promotes a slower “gamestate” (such as Manchester City) could be an interesting step for him, in order to possibly diversify his game and grow more complete and mature. Here is the player’s radar for the current LaLiga season, according to Wyscout :
Zalan Vancsa, Lommel SK :
I had no way of scouting Vancsa, but here is @PanoScout’s report about him to describe the player better than I ever could :
“This player possesses a very good technical ability that makes him useful when he has the ball at his feet. He seems to have practiced dribbling the ball at close range and in tight spaces.
Able to receive some long balls, good ball control and vision as well.
Able to move into channels very quickly.
Very good management when there is pressure.
Adept at using body feints in the right timing to get past opponents either outside or inside the penalty area.
Fairly good reflexes in being able to break the lines with different passes from any distance but especially short passes.
Although small in structure, I would describe him as a player who is strong and capable of handling tough situations such as 1v1 with a player who is physically bigger and stronger. He needs a little bit in being able to improve his balance under pressure. A player who can take charge of situations and make some explosive runs towards the opposition goal. Aggressive player who is able to contribute defensively as well, a right footed player who is capable of playing from both flanks or even as a number 10 but more like a shadow striker behind the main centre forward. He creates problems for his opponents because of his explosiveness and his ability to outrun his opponents in short periods of time, in aerial duels he is not as good and will need to improve his jumping reach. A team player who would rather look for a pass while in the penalty area than go and finish it himself. If the latter happens, then the player seems to stay cool in one-on-one situations with the opposing goalie. Not a typical winger who will be looking for some crosses, he likes cutting inside mostly, playing in a wide position to receive the ball and make some progressive runs on his own or to look to make some long and powerful shots as well. Able to roam from both flanks to find his teammates and create some spaces either for him or for them as well.”
Here is the player’s radar for the current Belgian First Division season, according to Wyscout :
Haissem Hassan, Sporting Gijon :
Haissem Hassan is a 21 years old French winger, currently playing for Sporting Gijon on loan from Villareal. He has already played in the 1st Division of LaLiga, but rather as a minor depth option for the 1st team.
Watching him, we see he likes being frequently deployed on the right side of the attack. His profile as a left-footed dribbling winger as well as his playing style reveal that he likes to cut inside quite a lot from the right wing, though he is capable of performing close to the touchline.
It is obvious he largely prefers using his left foot to drive the ball and in order to power his runs, and relies very little on his right foot. However, that limitation doesn’t necessarily impact his crossing abilities too much, as he is relatively poor in that aspect regardless of which foot he uses (he attempts a lot of crosses per game, and is able to find a man in the box, but, quite often, that is because the opposing defenders make errors in the process of stopping the ball and therefore let it arrive to a free player in their box).
But to compensate for that, he has a tendency to carry the ball into the box himself, relying then on his very quick feet and good dribbling capacities in tight spaces to get him out of situations where multiple defenders might press him to relieve him of the ball. We can see this in this following clip :
He is also a quite poor long-range passer, as he puts too much power into each attempt and uses the wrong body-angle to drive the ball. Indeed, he seems to often position his entire body incorrectly when shooting into the ball, which gives it a much more direct and vertical trajectory as one would like for such a pass, which usually is more horizontal than whatever he attempts to do. This flaw of his game also affects his overall playing style, as there are times when he could pass the ball through a long pass over the defenders, but when such times come, he usually passes it short, probably due to a lack of confidence or knowledge into how to get the ball in that higher area.
If he came to be deployed as a left-winger, one could theorise that he could bring what most think that Raphinha (Barcelona) could bring as a left-winger himself, or what Jordi Alba brought into the final third of the pitch during his time at the Catalan club : optimised cutback options. Indeed, as a left-winger, one could see him as a decent touchline player option, staying high and wide, and delivering cutbacks into the box for a starving #9 to feed off of, from a through-ball. However, for that to be the case, he would have to improve his general technical ability on the ball in order to be able to pull off such techniques.
He should also improve his right foot, as that would then improve the number of situations where he could bring a lot to the team’s general attacking-third play through a greater use of more diverse angles.
He also seems to hog the ball a bit too much, and get into situations in-and-around the box where he will keep the ball and keep dribbling. While this has worked at times, with him successfully getting the ball into the box and himself into a good shooting position, I feel as if he should learn to “delegate” more, or develop more “technical empathy” in order to upgrade his creative game and lower the risks of him and his team losing possession in these advanced spaces.
Here is the player’s radar for the current LaLiga 2 season, according to Wyscout :
A standout player of the 2nd list : Austin Ayoubi, MetroStars
Here is how Antonis Pagonis (@Pagonis98) analysed Ayoubi : “While he has not been available to play for Adelaide United yet, he has shown he was really good at MetroStars, which got him a place in the Team Of The Year. Indeed, he is a very apt creator, with a lot of different qualities :
can play well centrally (as he has done in the past) as well as on the wing
comfortable in tight spaces
very good passing and dribbling quality (which translated into his great connection with the league’s top scorer, James Temelkovski, who had a lot of goals created for him by Ayoubi)
comfortable receiving the ball at his feet
great shooting quality he can exploit if he’s allowed to
These strengths reflect into his player radar, established by Wyscout :
That’s the end of the piece, hope you enjoyed reading it ! I would like to give credit to the amazing people who helped me build this thread, thanks to their large knowledge of players, and that you will find on platforms such as Twitter under these @ :
@BeGriffis
@PanoScout
@Pagonis98
@tyla7ii
The goal of this statistical exercise was to discover lesser-known but all the while interesting players, whose stats say that they could theoretically play well for an top team in need of an incisive, decisive and explosive left-winger currently. Therefore, this ignores the natural adaptation factor to his environment that any player faces when going to another league (which explains why a player might do worse/better here than there), as well as the possibility of a player that doesn’t currently meet that exact statistical criteria to become the ideal left-winger for this Barcelona team if coached and taught correctly. This explains why players like Luis Guilherme, Joao Grimaldo, Kevin Vargas, Estevao, Echeverri, Baena and countless others aren’t part of the lists I have made, even though they could each, in their own rights, do well at Barcelona, as of now or later in their careers.
Reflecting on the “scouting” method I used here to tell you about the players I was able to see and describe, I have to admit that I have commented on their profiles based off on multiple highlights and compilations of their games, as well as longer bits and extracts of some other games I could get my hands on. Therefore, these analysis are only attempts at describing something I saw in them. This means that there are probably tenths of attributes of their profiles that I haven’t seen yet and therefore have not written about (such as their positional capacities in a high-line possessional team), because a compilation only shows so much. However, this is my first attempt at something like this ; in the future, I do hope that I will have more resources available to watch players in more detailed ways, for the purpose of a similar exercise, in order to be able to present more qualitative and complete analysis.