10 dribbly boys to know this summer, from most to least obvious

This newsletter is extremely pro-wingers who can beat their man off the dribble and carry into the box. In addition to being just about the most entertaining thing to watch in football, it’s also extremely valuable. And not just to get fouled and win set pieces, you sick freaks.

Here are 10 of them you’re going to see rumours about this summer, starting with the most expensive and proven commodities, and moving down towards some players who would be riskier bets for rich clubs.

Yan Diomande — RB Leipzig

Tottenham were reportedly interested in Diomande in the winter, which sounds like quite the funny joke now. We always thought that the Leipzig youngster looked like an extremely promising signing, but we thought it would take a couple years for him to cement himself as first choice and add end product to his game. Instead, he’s doing this.

A player with Diomande’s dribbling ability and athleticism would be appealing to big clubs even if he still needed a lot of polish, but he’s got 10 goals and 5 assists this season too. Leipzig have put a €100m price tag off him to scare people off, but it wouldn’t be the least bit shocking to see someone pay €75-80m.

Kenan Yildiz — Juventus

If that’s too much money, perhaps I can interest you in the option one step below. Perhaps a little less straight line speed, but still a great athlete, with some proven production for one of Europe’s proper Big Clubs.

Juventus are currently in a scrap for Champions League places in Italy, and their chances of holding on to Yildiz if they finish outside of the top 4 will be minimal. The vultures are circling. Someone in Chelsea’s front office is on the phone with ownership saying “just one more right-footed dribbly winger bro.”

Mika Godts — Ajax

And now we make the step down from a Ferrari to a BMW. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still nicer than anything I can get as a Tottenham fan, but it’s not that 0 to 100 km/h in 3 seconds type of horsepower.

While Ajax have put together an utterly disastrous season, it’s been a breakout campaign for Godts. He was mentioned previously on the newsletter as a fun dribbly boy to keep your eye on, and I think a lot of teams have.

I wouldn’t be shocked to see Leipzig or Juventus go for Godts as a replacement for the more expensive player they’re about to lose.

Andreas Schjelderup — Benfica

“Kim mentions Andreas Schjelderup” is the free space if you’re playing Transfer Flow Bingo at home. I have been yelling for 2 years that Benfica need to play this guy more, they have started playing this guy more, and look at the results.

Schjelderup was heavily linked to loan-to-buy moves to mid-table Serie A clubs that never quite materialized this winter. If Benfica want to sell him this summer, they’ll be able to do much better than that. Crazy what happens when you give your best young talents some opportunities on the pitch.

Jesus Rodriguez — Como

The ink is hardly dry on Rodriguez’s Como contract, but he’s already popping up in the transfer rags as being linked to Arsenal and Manchester United. He’s also in this Michael Cox piece about the most wasteful finishers in Europe, but shhh. We can teach shooting. All we’re worried about right now is dribble.

Como are one of the teams in that top 4 fight with Juventus, and if they pull off Champions League qualification, they should be able to keep Rodriguez around for one more season.

Samuel Mbangula — Werder Bremen

We now get into those weird Honda Civics that have a giant spoiler and exhaust pipe for some fucking reason. Everyone from here down has something about their game that makes me think they might not be the real deal, but they’re interesting enough that DoF Kim would be asking staff for a detailed scouting report.

Mbangula had to put in more minutes than expected for Juventus last season due to injuries/management randomly hating some of the other players. He was inconsistent, but showed some flashes of brilliance, and got a €10m move to Werder. Despite his lack of shot production, I think they’re getting their money back.

At Werder, it’s been a bit more of the same. He’s wildly inconsistent, but the highlights are insane. I think someone takes a gamble on this profile.

Sondre Ørjasæter — Twente

I fear we may have some classic Eredivisie stat farming here. Ørjasæter has impressed in his first season at Twente after moving from Sarpsborg, though the ratio of touches in the box to xG is a bit alarming.

I’m curious what the physical metrics say about Ørjasæter, because to my eyes, he looks quite slow for a winger with this kind of dribbling output. However, he has excellent size and strength for a winger, which could draw some interest from English clubs.

William Gomes — Porto

Now we get into a couple guys who are tiny, which seems to be a fatal flaw in modern football. I loved tiny wingers, let’s bring back tiny wingers.

William Gomes is still extremely young, so I feel like rich clubs will be inclined to wait and see if he develops further before making a move. But left-footed players with this kind of production at a club as big as Porto usually get snapped up.

There are some pretty heavy sub effects on these numbers as well. But to my eyes, William’s dribbling and ability to get into dangerous shooting areas are going to translate well to a higher level. Perhaps his size prevents a Prem team from taking the plunge, but I want to see him in Serie A, La Liga or the Bundesliga.

Jan Virgili — Mallorca

Yeah, I know, this radar looks like crap.

But this might be the most purely entertaining sizzle reel I’ve watched in a while. This is real ball. This is what the physical data and set piece freaks took from us.

Joseph Opoku — Zulte Waregem

Shoutout to the only guy on this list who does not have an English language Wikipedia page. Someone should get on that, because Opoku has been a consistent performer for Zulte Waregem this season.

In addition to being a great dribbler, Opoku has 5 goals and 5 assists, and deservedly so, off 5.27 xG and 4.43 xGA. The Premier League is likely a bridge too far, but if I was a team on the European continent, I’d be looking at Opoku thinking that he’s a player I can flip to England in a couple of years for 3x what I pay for him this summer.

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