Georges-Kévin Nkoudou

Last season a host of clubs were watching Marseille winger Georges-Kévin Nkoudou including Manchester United, Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, Arsenal, West Ham and Everton. We were taking note ourselves with Rob Mackenzie making regular weekend trips to take in multiple games in several countries.

A scout watches a game in a totally different way to a fan, he is eyes remain on the player when he doesn't have the ball and it isn't anywhere near him. A scout doesn't watch the general game.

A deal is reportedly close for the French Under-21 winger, although it may be held up by Clinton Njie going the other way discussions, he has yet to meet the French club to discuss a move. Who are we about to sign?

A left dribbling winger by trade, he can also operate on the right, the surprise is that he is more of a traditional winger who likes to provide crosses, something I recall Nacer Chadli doing when he first arrived, rarely see it now from him. Will we look to retain these qualities or develop him into a more inverted winger, the latter you would assume.

He has a high work rate, he defends from the front and loves to make a tackle, which suggests he always loves to be involved. He does have the pace many are calling for so the basic qualities are there to work with.

One area of weakness we will have to work on in his body positioning, he loses to ball too much because he doesn't move his body between the opponent and the ball enough, obviously not when he is dribbling at them but in other situations like accepting ad holding the ball up. he'll need to work on his strength and also his first touch, which isn't great.

He has pace but his touch can often lead to him losing the ball and a counter attack breaking down. he is poor in the air, but aren't most wingers so there are areas of improvement. He has plenty of potential, he is at the start of his career. The tools are there to improve and improve he will have to. In a year he will be reassessed and we'll know more about his mental capabilities.

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