Fluminense has recently proclaimed itself Copa Libertadores 2023 champions after an intense and thrilling final against Boca Juniors, winning their first international trophy ever. They have been a dynamic squad, well rounded of young talents and experienced players, who have left outrageous group performances in his race for the title. If we take a look into individuals at Fluminense, we have to talk about one of their key midfield elements, André.
André, born 16/07/2001 in Brazil has made his dream come true, winning his first ever trophy for the club that he grew up with. Being a Fluminense academy product, he has burned stages in all academy squads before entering the first team dynamic in the 20/21 season at just 19 years old. Since then, he has given huge strides, becoming a key player and brain of Fluminense, having developed an interesting and complete midfielder profile.
André is the kind of player whose characteristics and attributes can fit in any position around the midfield. He mainly starts as central or holding midfielder, acting as the deeper midfield player in Fluminense´s predominant 4-2-3-1 system. His profile is a great mix between ball and tempo controlling midfielder and duels winning/ fighting midfielder, having great contribution in both defensive and offensive phases of the game.
On the ball, one of his main virtues is his high contribution in offering a strong build up phase, being the main player to carry the ball forward and linking between defensive line and attackers. He commonly loves to receive ahead of the defensive line, positioning himself orientated in either left or right sides, creating overloads and accumulating players to play short passing, but he can also (less habitual) come deeper to form an initial 3 defensive line, leaving more space in midfield and projecting his team forward through the high-positioned flanks. When receiving behind the first line of pressure, he possesses clear concepts of scanning and awareness, making a clear map of everybody´s position and receives the ball with good body shape and orientation, which allows him to have a good and quick decision making and take advantage.
Once he has offered a good progressing option and has the ball on his feet his passing ability makes him distinct. Able to play short, filter line breaking vertical passes, find lateral progressing passes and activate attackers by lofting the ball in behind the opposition defense, he possesses a great passing skillset, dominating all ranges and being accurate in his intentions. He is calmed and a high pressure resistant player on the ball, trying to find the best option. When not finding a progressive passing option, he does not hesitate to carry the ball forward, making rival defenders jump on pressure leaving a free man. He protects the ball well in that situations, having good ball dominance and body use, hiding the ball from defenders and finding the free man with time and space. It is not usual to see him operating in advanced areas, positioning himself as an option to recycle possession and invert the game when his team is operating in high attacking positions, not being a creative and tricky player to provide goal scoring assists or filter last meter passes.
Andre has also the capacity to perform hugely in defense, having quite interesting defensive statistics and behaviors. One of the main actitudes that catches attention when seeing him play is his high capacity to activate himself after his team loses the ball, making a quick counter press and allowing to regain possession quickly in advanced areas. Andre has played a key role also in providing balance and consistency to his team. When attacking, he is clever to be the closing man, being able to cover a lot of ground and having great positioning to make coverages to his teammates also cutting rivals progression avoiding transitions. When facing rivals running towards him, the Brazilian is difficult to surpass in one-on-one situations. His levels of strength are quite good and uses his body well. He possesses a low center of gravity, being able to fastly change direction and has good timing for tackling, being tough on the ball. He reads the game well, detecting dangerous passing lines, but sometimes lacks the speed and anticipation to intercept those balls, arriving just to harass and compete in physical duels, where he has a good winning ratio.
Despite being a really good and mature midfielder profile, there are some weaknesses in his game to work on. One of them is the aerial game. Playing in holding midfielder position and many times having to aid his central defenders in his own area, he possesses a quite low ratio of aerial game. Moreover, despite when he receives the ball André possesses clarity to progress, the passing lines he usually proposes are not as clear as his ball playing ability. In that sense, he should improve his positioning in build up, escaping rivals' shadow, making space for himself and becoming a much better and safer option for his teammates to play with.
André´s outrageous performances have not gone unnoticed during all his season, and has a quite interesting profile for a possession based ball playing squad. He has catched up attention of many clubs and seems to be a player ready for a move to Europe, in order to compete at the highest leagues and stages in a first class team.
Click here to see full scouting report
André, born 16/07/2001 in Brazil has made his dream come true, winning his first ever trophy for the club that he grew up with. Being a Fluminense academy product, he has burned stages in all academy squads before entering the first team dynamic in the 20/21 season at just 19 years old. Since then, he has given huge strides, becoming a key player and brain of Fluminense, having developed an interesting and complete midfielder profile.
André is the kind of player whose characteristics and attributes can fit in any position around the midfield. He mainly starts as central or holding midfielder, acting as the deeper midfield player in Fluminense´s predominant 4-2-3-1 system. His profile is a great mix between ball and tempo controlling midfielder and duels winning/ fighting midfielder, having great contribution in both defensive and offensive phases of the game.
On the ball, one of his main virtues is his high contribution in offering a strong build up phase, being the main player to carry the ball forward and linking between defensive line and attackers. He commonly loves to receive ahead of the defensive line, positioning himself orientated in either left or right sides, creating overloads and accumulating players to play short passing, but he can also (less habitual) come deeper to form an initial 3 defensive line, leaving more space in midfield and projecting his team forward through the high-positioned flanks. When receiving behind the first line of pressure, he possesses clear concepts of scanning and awareness, making a clear map of everybody´s position and receives the ball with good body shape and orientation, which allows him to have a good and quick decision making and take advantage.
Once he has offered a good progressing option and has the ball on his feet his passing ability makes him distinct. Able to play short, filter line breaking vertical passes, find lateral progressing passes and activate attackers by lofting the ball in behind the opposition defense, he possesses a great passing skillset, dominating all ranges and being accurate in his intentions. He is calmed and a high pressure resistant player on the ball, trying to find the best option. When not finding a progressive passing option, he does not hesitate to carry the ball forward, making rival defenders jump on pressure leaving a free man. He protects the ball well in that situations, having good ball dominance and body use, hiding the ball from defenders and finding the free man with time and space. It is not usual to see him operating in advanced areas, positioning himself as an option to recycle possession and invert the game when his team is operating in high attacking positions, not being a creative and tricky player to provide goal scoring assists or filter last meter passes.
Andre has also the capacity to perform hugely in defense, having quite interesting defensive statistics and behaviors. One of the main actitudes that catches attention when seeing him play is his high capacity to activate himself after his team loses the ball, making a quick counter press and allowing to regain possession quickly in advanced areas. Andre has played a key role also in providing balance and consistency to his team. When attacking, he is clever to be the closing man, being able to cover a lot of ground and having great positioning to make coverages to his teammates also cutting rivals progression avoiding transitions. When facing rivals running towards him, the Brazilian is difficult to surpass in one-on-one situations. His levels of strength are quite good and uses his body well. He possesses a low center of gravity, being able to fastly change direction and has good timing for tackling, being tough on the ball. He reads the game well, detecting dangerous passing lines, but sometimes lacks the speed and anticipation to intercept those balls, arriving just to harass and compete in physical duels, where he has a good winning ratio.
Despite being a really good and mature midfielder profile, there are some weaknesses in his game to work on. One of them is the aerial game. Playing in holding midfielder position and many times having to aid his central defenders in his own area, he possesses a quite low ratio of aerial game. Moreover, despite when he receives the ball André possesses clarity to progress, the passing lines he usually proposes are not as clear as his ball playing ability. In that sense, he should improve his positioning in build up, escaping rivals' shadow, making space for himself and becoming a much better and safer option for his teammates to play with.
André´s outrageous performances have not gone unnoticed during all his season, and has a quite interesting profile for a possession based ball playing squad. He has catched up attention of many clubs and seems to be a player ready for a move to Europe, in order to compete at the highest leagues and stages in a first class team.
Click here to see full scouting report