The Summer 2024 scouting thread

[King of the Lane]

The more I read and watch clips of Youssouf Fofana, the more I think he might be our answer to the number 6 hunt. He is strong, quick, very good defensively, can turn a player a little bit like Bissouma and his passing is very good too. Only has a year left on his contract so wouldnt cost loads either. @Ghost Hardware sorry to lean on you again buddy but what are your overall thoughts on him?

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

The more I read and watch clips of Youssouf Fofana, the more I think he might be our answer to the number 6 hunt. He is strong, quick, very good defensively, can turn a player a little bit like Bissouma and his passing is very good too. Only has a year left on his contract so wouldnt cost loads either. @Ghost Hardware sorry to lean on you again buddy but what are your overall thoughts on him?

I like Fofana but I do have a concern from watching his recent games at Monaco.

He plays in a double pivot with Zakaria and the latter seems to be the one who’s way more defensively aware.

Watching the first half of the Brest game tonight (haven’t seen second half yet) it was Zakaria making more effort to get back and break up play, intercept etc. Fofana was often caught in no mans land between attack and defence and wasn’t really busting a gut to get back in.

Now obviously some of this could be role related in their system but I just have a nagging feeling watching the recent games that he may struggle as a lone 6 and isn’t quite the out and out DM we need.

I say that as someone who is a fan of his too but I’m really focusing on DM solutions at the moment and my gut instinct tells me he doesn’t solve the problem.

 

[DiVaio]

I'd say we'd be well worth our while looking at Quilindschy Hartman from Feyenoord. Similar system under Slot who can play inverted full back so shouldn't have difficulties adapting to the demands of Ange and being able competition for Udogie;

Hartman is great, but he suffered serious injury and will be out until 2025.

 

[Albertbarich]

Just me that is fine with Davies as Udogie back up then? He has been excellent this year.

Id focus on a Porro back up. As much as I love Emerson the man he isn't suited to an inverted full back role at all . Kyle walker Peters seems an obvious fit, he can even cover left back but if anyone has any suggestions from other leagues I'd love to hear them.

 

[felmani26]

Hartman is great, but he suffered serious injury and will be out until 2025.

You are indeed correct, was not aware he recently suffered a cruciate injury so yes on that basis you'd absolutely want to monitor how he fares in the second half of the Eredivisie next season.

 

[rabbikeane]

Just me that is fine with Davies as Udogie back up then? He has been excellent this year.

Has he been excellent as centre back or as left back though ..

 

[Ghost Hardware]

The more I read and watch clips of Youssouf Fofana, the more I think he might be our answer to the number 6 hunt. He is strong, quick, very good defensively, can turn a player a little bit like Bissouma and his passing is very good too. Only has a year left on his contract so wouldnt cost loads either. @Ghost Hardware sorry to lean on you again buddy but what are your overall thoughts on him?

Fofana is a bit of a unique one in the sense he can play as both a 8 and a 6 depending on the tactic. The reason for this is that he is very comfortable on the ball but also very good at winning the ball, especially in the middle of the pitch. He also tends to cover a lot of ground and if you look at his heat maps he will pop up everywhere. So what you will see is that it really depends on who his midfield parter is as that will determine what role he plays in the system.

Monaco actually started the season playing a 3421 but Adi Hütter has also played a 442 and a 4231 and will often adjust to the opposition tactic. A double pivot is pretty much standard in all of them tho with one midfielder playing a deeper DM role and the other a B2B. The majority of the time he has been partnered with Zakaria and like @Nick-TopSpursMan says above when doing so Fofana plays as a B2B rather then a DM.

In order to get a sense of him as a DM you have to watch the games where he was partnered with Golovin such as there 0-0 with PSG or their recent 5-2 win at Metz. Here you will see him sitting deeper and not pushing up so much, he will even on occasion slot into the back line. Its also worth noting that Hütter likes to play a high line (not like ours but still) and the defence will sit quite high up the pitch thus the DM will often also sit high but still slightly removed from the attack.

So can he play as a DM? Yes he can and he has and even tho he is in a double pivot the DM will often be sitting central behind the attack essentially being a lone 6 even if it is only transitional. And if he can Is he good at it? Yes and no. Yes in that he is very strong, has good ability on the ball, good technical ability all round really which is unsurprising considering he was at the Clairefontaine academy, is a solid passer and he is a strong tackler with solid positioning when playing DM. He's also pretty fast once he gets up to speed although he doesn't have great acceleration. But I would be lying if I said I didn't have concerns. Yes he is a very good tackler but that somewhat goes hand in hand with a player coming into his vicinity. Whilst Fofana will cover a lot of ground and positions himself well he doesn't tend to chase down the ball, not with any real gusto at least.

Now obviously you don't want your DM to follow the ball like a dog and staying in position is key but that is not what I mean. If the ball bypasses him then he doesn't always drive back to to get it, he will sometimes sort of jog back and just watch things unfold. The thing is, like I said, he does actually cover a lot of ground in a match and will pop up everywhere so its not that he's lazy, its just that if Monaco are hit on a counter, which does happen due to the high line, you won't always see him busting a move to get back and grab the ball exactly as Nick says in his post above. The problem is that although he is big, strong and a really formidable presences in midfield he just isn't very agile, at all, and doesn't have the best acceleration.

This IMO is why statistically he is good at winning the ball in the middle of the pitch but not so much in his own half. He is in the 70th percentile for tackles in the middle of the pitch averaging around 1.12 per 90 but he is only in the 27th percentile for tackles in his own half with and average of 0.62. Obviously one has to take into account that he has played as a B2B more regularly and the fact Monaco play a high line so obviously the numbers aren't a completely fair representation its just I honestly don't think the drastic difference is down to just the position/tactics but also down to his rather lethargic way of tracking back at times.

I know that on paper it sounds like its laziness but I really don't think that is the case with him, It is worth noting that Fofana has captained Monaco this season and he is supposed to have a good mentality from what i've read in the past. I get the feeling that sometimes he sizes up the situation and if he thinks he won't be able to affect the outcome won't put in the energy to get back as swiftly as possible. This is just a guess and there have been times I have seen him move with haste it's just there are others he's just sort of drifted back.

As a DM in our system I think he would be good in the build up because of his ability on the ball and his physicality but defensively if a player gets past him then we could be in trouble. There is also an argument to say that perhaps Ange could adapt him to the role and bring the best out of him as he does have a lot of attractive attributes. Really tho I think he is probably better suited to a B2B role as that somewhat relives him of his defensive responsibility to a degree and allows him to spend more time further up the pitch which is where i think he is most effective.

 

[Albertbarich]

Has he been excellent as centre back or as left back though ..

Both I think. I wouldn't want him as first choice but his experience, versatility, personality and reliability makes him far down the list of those we should be upgrading to me.

 

[dontcallme]

Just me that is fine with Davies as Udogie back up then? He has been excellent this year.

Id focus on a Porro back up. As much as I love Emerson the man he isn't suited to an inverted full back role at all . Kyle walker Peters seems an obvious fit, he can even cover left back but if anyone has any suggestions from other leagues I'd love to hear them.

I like Davies and think he's played well at the same time as being an excellent professional. But he doesn't have the skilset for the Udogie role. I'd keep Davies as the 4th choice centre back.

 

[brasil_spur]

Despite not wanting him at all previously (because of his limitations) when we've been linked before, I think Jonathan David would be perfect for an Ange team. Will only have a year left on his contract come the Summer.

Agree with this, I was keen when we were linked with him last summer.

He's been on excellent form so far this calendar year too, with 12 goals in 12 games and finding the net in at least 1 out of every 2 games:

And nicely there's a distinct lack of assists in there, which is what we want from a new striker - someone who simply turns up and gets goals.

 

[npearl4spurs]

Never stops, rarely injured.

Great, we can fix that

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

As mentioned in the Werner thread, Summerville on fire again for Leeds tonight.

2 goals taking his league tally to 19 in 39 starts this season now.

Wonder if we will look at him in the summer.

 

[dontcallme]

As mentioned in the Werner thread, Summerville on fire again for Leeds tonight.

2 goals taking his league tally to 19 in 39 starts this season now.

Wonder if we will look at him in the summer.

I believe he'll have 2 years left on his contract by this summer. Guessing whether they get promotion or not will determine his availability.

 

[GioW]

Best thing we can do on full backs is get someone that is equally comfortable left and right therefore killing two birds with one stone and freeing more funds for the rest of the squad.

Not my job to suggest who though that's for @Ghost Hardware

 

[DogsOfWar]

Just me that is fine with Davies as Udogie back up then? He has been excellent this year.

Id focus on a Porro back up. As much as I love Emerson the man he isn't suited to an inverted full back role at all . Kyle walker Peters seems an obvious fit, he can even cover left back but if anyone has any suggestions from other leagues I'd love to hear them.

I'd have a look at Doughty from Luton at LB. He's 24 and available on a free in the Summer and plays LB and LM so could suit our role.

Nothing against Davies just forward planning due to his age and a 'free' replacement.

 

[mr ashley]

Best thing we can do on full backs is get someone that is equally comfortable left and right therefore killing two birds with one stone and freeing more funds for the rest of the squad.

Not my job to suggest who though that's for @Ghost Hardware

Surely that has to be Kyle Walker peters?

 

[GioW]

Surely that has to be Kyle Walker peters?

Yeah most likely

 

[ikky]

I don’t get this love in with KWP. Imo he’s very average. Offers nothing outstanding offensively nor defensively.

 

[coy-spurs1882]

I don’t get this love in with KWP. Imo he’s very average. Offers nothing outstanding offensively nor defensively.

being homegrown and club trained is the only plus for me

 

[GutBucket]

I don’t get this love in with KWP. Imo he’s very average. Offers nothing outstanding offensively nor defensively.

Club trained, used to playing inverted WB role. Buying him would allow us to sell Skipp and get someone better. And he is elite at couple of things when it comes to passing and progression. Really bad defensively though.

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