Petko Hristov

Petko Hristov

Full name in native alphabet: Петко Христов

Country: Bulgaria

Date of birth: 01/03/1999 (17 years old)

Place of birth: Sofia (Bulgaria)

Height: 192cm

Youth career: Levski Sofia, Slavia Sofia (since 2013)

Current club: Slavia Sofia

Squad number: 15

Current national team: Bulgaria U-18

Position: central defender

Preferred foot: right

Market value (by transfermarkt.de): 50.000 €

Tournaments participated in: 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification elite round (3/0)

Contract until: unknown

Player’s agent: unknown

Transfer rumours: —

Similar type of player: Federico Fazio

Strengths:

– aerial duels

– anticipation

– tackling and intercepting

– athleticism

– concentration

– marking

– positioning

– bravery

Weaknesses:

– still prone to make mistakes

– he may struggle a bit in front of skilful players with fast direction shifts/great acceleration skills at short distances

Style of play:

– physically powerful defender who feels comfortable in contact situations with the opposite forwards

– well-fit, hard-working, and quick at anticipating the movement of the opponents

– accurate and tenacious tackler

– centre back who feels comfortable and has a decent composure on the ball

– likes to spread play with good long-range diagonals

– indirect set-piece threat

– extremely dominant in the air

– very good at breaking down opposition plays due to his positional sense, defensive attributes, tactical intelligence, and ability to read the game

– able to control the threat of the attacker without causing an imbalance in the defensive line

– concentrated, determined and commited player with very good rate of individual and collective work

– fairly experienced for his age with almost 20 games on the senior level

He is best suited to playing as:

Central defender in 4-4-2.

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1Ih8Tc9yTQ

Achievements:

Bulgarian U-19 Championship 2015/2016 winner with Slavia.

League summary (as for 25 February 2017):

Bulgarian First League 2016/2017 (ongoing): 17 matches/1 goal (Slavia)

Description:

Slavia Sofia is a club with grand traditions, but it has not enjoyed any success in recent times. Previous season was very decent, however, and Slavia finished 4th in the table. Currently the team has given a chance to young, talented players such as Antonis Stergiakis, Stefan Velkov, Yanis Karabelyov, Georgi Yomov, Nasko Milev, Kaloyan Krastev and Petko Hristov. The latter one is considered to be one of the most talented defenders in Bulgaria and all of the Balkan regions. He joined Slavia in 2013 from local rivals Levski Sofia. He made his professional debut on 30 June 2016 in Europa League game against Zagłębie Lubin, coming on as a substitute for Georgi Yomov. In 2016, he was named young player of the year in Bulgaria. He has a twin brother Andrea, who also is a talented defenders and plays for Slavia.

Quotes:

‘Petko is a strong center back, with good technical skills to start the game from defense, a good header and tackling skills. Petko has a good vision of the game, a good positioning in the field. He’s the leader of the defense.’

(scouting-team.com)

Football Talent Scout potential rating:

7/10