Edgar Pujol – One of La Fábrica’s most interesting centre-backs! by Kaba
Full name: Edgar Climent Pujol Portoreal
Country: Spain
Birthday place: Sabadell (Barcelona)
Date of birth: 07/08/2004 (17)
Height: 1,80 M
Youths team: Castellar del Vallés (2010-13), Sabadell (2013-15), Can Rull (2015-16), Damm (2016-17), Espanyol (2017-19)
Current team: Real Madrid (since 2019)
Current national team: Spain U18
Position: centre-back
Preferred foot: right
Market Value: –
Contract until: –
Player’s Agent: –
Similar type of player: Jules Kounde
Strengths:
- pace
- anticipation
- intercepting
- technique
- passing
- composure
- reading of the game
- concentration
- heading
- ambidexterity
Playing style:
- complete and elegant centre-back
- modern centre-back who is very good both technically & and defensively
- can play both as a left & right centre-back
- he is fast, anticipates well the opponent’s movements & is very difficult to beat in the race / he also has a great recovery pace
- he is comfortable and composed on the ball: he is not afraid to push forward, to attempt dribbles or body feints to break the opponent’s pressure and then find his teammates
- centre-back who is part of the team build-up and has a good passing quality (diagonal balls, vertical pass) which he uses to break the first pressing lines when he has the opportunity
- good technique, vision and passing skills for a centre-back
- he has the ability to break opponents lines with good vertical passes
- he likes to make long-range passes when he has the opportunity to do
- when he is under pressure and is in a situation where he has to use his weak foot, he does it quite well
- he has a good reading of the game and is often well positioned in defence
- he is very comfortable to play in a high defensive line thanks to his pace, reactivity & reading of the game
- he brings serenity to the team thanks to his ability to always be present and to intervene well in defence
- he is not a very aggressive CB, rarely tackles (only 0.48 tackles won per 90 with the Juvenil C last season) – only when necessary – and prefers to anticipate what the opponent will do / he is a defender who prefers to frame the ball carrier well, keep him away from the danger zone and then intervene when he is (almost) sure he can recover the ball
- he plays very clean, makes very few fouls
- he analyses the situation well before coming out high on his opponent, he is not a defender who throws himself, he is more in anticipation
- he often finishes the game with a high number of interceptions, recoveries and defends a maximum standing, remains on its supports as much as possible & he tackles only when necessary or when he has no choice
- focused player on the field who makes few mistakes: he often chooses the perfect timing to make a defensive intervention
- despite the fact that he is not the tallest, he is still good in the air thanks to his jumping, timing
Improvements:
- physical strength: he is still young and can still mature physically to stand up well to powerful strikers / he needs to resist better in contact situations
- sometimes he takes too many risks with the ball and loses it in dangerous areas but this is part of his playing style
- his size can be a disadvantage against very tall strikers, although he still manages to get by in this area thanks to his anticipation and jumping
Description: Edgar Pujol joined La Fábrica last season from Espanyol. As soon as he arrived, Edgar was quick to show the extent of his talent and confirmed the good things people were saying about him. In a pre-season tournament in 2019/20 (the Torcaf tournament), he will finish as the best player in the tournament, having put in some excellent performances, especially in the final against Villarreal. He did the preseason with Real Madrid Castilla and played several games as a starter and performed well for a player of his age. He got minutes in all 7 games of the preseason and played a total of 286 minutes.
Edgar is one of La Fábrica’s most promising centre-backs and he’s also one of my favourite centre-backs in the academy he’s got what it takes to be a great defender one day. His progress during this season and the next ones will be very important and interesting to follow. It is never easy for a young player from La Fábrica to make it to Real Madrid’s first team, but Edgar has the potential to do so one day if everything goes well for him. He has everything it takes to succeed: he is a very complete defender with very few faults. He goes fast, reads the game well, is good technically and above all he is not afraid to take risks with the ball and make feints or dribbles if the situation requires it. We’ll see what the future holds for him, but in any case, he remains a very interesting player to follow.