Introducing Ayyoub Bouaddi: Lille’s Next Gem by MaxTalksFootball
Nationality: France/Morocco
Date of Birth: 02/10/2007
Position: Cm/Dm/Am
Preferred Foot: Right
Current Cub: Losc Lille
Similar Player: Curtis Jones
Ayyoub Bouaddi is getting minutes in Lille’s midfield at just 16 years of age and impressively already looks like a presence in the middle of the pitch, being a player who demands the ball and is heavily involved, it feels safe to say he is the next gem from the Lille academy following in the footsteps of high profile players the academy has helped produce in the past with the likes of Eden Hazard, Benjamin Pavard and Yohan Cabaye. But perhaps it is more pertinent to discuss one of his contemporaries in Leny Yoro at the same club. He will be looking to have a similar rapid ascension as the man linked with many of the European giants having just turned 18 himself. In this report I will introduce a player who I believe can go onto have a similar impact on the world stage, looking at an overview of his profile, giving a comprehensive analysis of his strengths and areas he can develop, how they could look once developed and the player I believe he could be if his potential is met.
MENTAL PROFILE:
Positives:
- Mature
- Composed
- Brave
- High iq
Negatives:
- Discipline
- Concentration
PLAYSTYLE:
Strengths:
- passing: Good passing ability demonstrates range and times his release of the ball well.
- Dribbling: Can pick up the ball comfortably under pressure, and demonstrates press resistance.
- Tackling: He possesses a fairly lanky frame with long legs that help him clip the ball away from attackers well.
- Ball Progression: Whether from driving powerfully into space with the ball, dribbling and beating players, making good passes or a combination of all, Ayyoub shows a great ability to progress the ball up the pitch.
- Composure: Doesn’t panic even when receiving the ball in a negative situation.
- Awareness: Scans brilliantly in order to know where players are in relation to him. He seems to always be trying to read the play and make judgements on his next action.
- Spatial Understanding: His positioning is very good, whether in a defensive sense, build up or attacking sense he demonstrates a great understanding of where to be on the pitch.
- Anticipation: He anticipates space very well and can make effective interceptions or step up quickly to press a player who is about to receive the ball. Also makes smart movements to anticipate the next sequence of play.
- Versatility: The range of his profile means he can play Dm,Cm or Am in my opinion and I will elaborate further down in this report. Predominantly plays as a Dm in a pivot or an 8 as of now.
Impressive plays that act as an example of the positives of his playstyle:
Play 1: Long Passing
What happiness in the play? Ayyoub plays a nice switched pass out from the left side to the right. Note that this ball is played less as a lofted pass and with more pace, something I mention he should try and execute more often.
What happens in the play? We can see the pass is executed well at a good weight as the receiver is able to play a first time ball off the pass to a teammate.
Play 2: short passing
What happens in this play? After dribbling into space he has time to pick his next action and plays a nice pass between the opposition’s left sided fullback and centre half.
What happens in the play? It can again be well noted that the execution on the pass is evident as the weighting means the attacker is able to continue his pace and take the ball in stride.
Play 3: dribbling
What happens in the play? Ayyoub shows an awareness and understanding of his body and gets between the opponent and the ball to shield the ball. He shows good balance to ride the challenge and good control of the ball to keep it at his feet as he is being physically pressed.
What happens in the play? He gets the ball under his control and swiftly changes direction at pace and with agility. Demonstrating a good turn of pace and acceleration from a standstill across short distances, taking the ball in between two opposition players into space.
What happens in the play? Ayyoub having swiftly shifted direction carries the ball past his opponent and intelligently makes him off balance, allowing him to more easily brush him to the side, he achieves this through the way he uses his body and direction. Again demonstrating good physical foundational traits, understanding and awareness of body in relation to opposition and ball, brilliant balance to maintain an upright posture, assisting in allowing him to be more powerful in his carries and good strength to hold off the opposition player. Note, I’ve seen people suggest he needs to develop his physical profile, which may be true in a defensive sense; I would say it is still far beyond his peers at his age range. I upheld the opinion that as a dribbler and carrier his physical profile is already at a fairly optimal level.
Play 4: Anticipation and Tackling
What happens in the play? Here he anticipates the man receiving and proactively is ready to engage.
What happens in the play? He engages and successfully uses his lanky frame to get across the man and take the ball. He demonstrates this ability to react quickly and anticipate the dribbling of the attacker, often using his long limbs to win the ball when the attacker fails to have the ball under complete control or if the distance between the attacker and the ball increases enough for him to successfully knick the ball away.
Play 5 : Ball progression:
What happens in the play? We see him in his starting position where he collects the ball and begins driving up the pitch. Note his upright posture to assist in his more powerful running style.
What happens in this play? We see his final position and can see that in 6 seconds he drove with the ball from the edge of his own box up past the halfway line. Demonstrating his ability to powerfully drive forward with the ball and the effectiveness of his long and powerful strides over longer distances. Note he impressively demonstrates an ability to both carry the ball over long distances when given space and possess the ability to be agile when operating in tight spaces, showing nice controlled explosiveness to change direction, accelerate and decelerate at the correct times and keep the ball under control.
Play 6: Awareness and Spatial Understanding
What happens in the play? We see him receive the ball with his back to goal, scanning before receiving and understanding the space and where the opposition players are.
What happens in the play? With this awareness he shows an impressive comfort and confidence to turn and drive forward with the ball under his control into the pressure, inviting it onto him and releasing the ball to his, now more free, teammate at the right time.
Play 7: Defensive Spatial Awareness
What happens in this play? We see him tracking back to defend his own box
What happens in this play? He positions himself in the box and checks where his man is to see if he’s in a good defensive position.
What happens in this play? He heads the ball away thanks to his good defensive positioning and awareness.
Play 8: Attacking Spatial Awareness
What happens in the play? The ball gets quickly shifted wide.
What happens in the play? Ayyoub reacts quickly and shows awareness of the space opened up and makes a run into it.
Note: It’s impressive that he understands space in attacking and defensive phases.
Weaknesses/Development areas:
It’s a testament to Ayyoub that in my opinion any criticism you can lay at his feet he can overcome with age, maturity and game time. It is another reason why he is so exciting as a player, in his current state he is already effective and very good but you imagine the player he can be if he was to develop these areas and he becomes incredible.
Concentration: He seems to me to either play the game in a way that is completely proactive, harrying players, pressing, carrying the ball etc. or at a very relaxed and controlled tempo playing short passes and moving around the pitch with an elegance. It will be interesting to see how this can be coached as these traits existing simultaneously in the same player is kind of rare. I will say that a weak area of his is concentration in either one of these states, each one can be hazardous. if he’s playing too high intensity he can make fouls, take touches too big when carrying the ball out. If he’s playing relaxed, I think for his standards, this is when he becomes more sloppy in his passing or first touches. He will do well if he can develop more of an understanding of tempo control and when to mix between these states and if he can reach a bit more of a stasis overall with them.
Pass selection: His passing ability is very good, technically there is no criticism, however the selection of when and how often he uses a certain pass is a criticism. I Want to see more line breaking passes played at pace through the middle. He likes to switch the ball most often if he does attempt a more expansive pass and even then has a tendency to sometimes lift the ball too much when he should play the ball with more pace out wide to catch teams out. I also believe he should play the ball more often on his left as he has the ability to use it more, I think it is a case of comfort but he is currently limiting passing angles. And as I said I would like to see him stand on the ball and control tempo more often if given the trust and licence and develop the understanding but this is probably less down to him.
What could hold him back?
Coaching could hold him back to an extent but only to an extent. He could be pushed into playing a uni-dimensional role but even then I believe he would still do this to a high level. I see no evidence when looking at his Iq and football understanding that he can’t develop the areas discussed, perhaps only in his temperament, if he can’t get his mental state and style to align with what the game state requires.
His potential: How good can he be?
He has the potential to develop effectively into an all phase midfielder.
He clearly can develop into a 6, as he matures he will develop physically enough to be more combative in the tackle and he has all other qualities to play there – Anticipation, spatial understanding, ball retention, passing ability.
He can also, in my opinion, play further forward if he wanted to, in terms of playing in the pockets and half spaces at least. Although something he rarely does now, I think he could even develop a nice understanding of movement into the box to score more goals and develop attacking threat as he understands space so well and when to move into it already, it’s just a case of developing that box presence which I think he can and will.
However just looking at his character and the fact he can play both roles it seems intuitive to say he can be an all-phase number 8, Gundogan-esque. Tempo setter, box crasher, creator, ball carrier, ball winner. He could feasibly do it all.
I hope he gets a coach that allows him to use the full range of his expansive profile as a footballer as he is a rare kind.