Brahim Diaz
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Brahim Abdelkader Diaz
Current Club: Real Madrid.
Previous Clubs: Manchester City, Malaga.
Loan Clubs: N/A.
International: N/A.
Trophies Won: English Premier League 2017/18. Community Shield 2019. English League Cup 2018, 2019.
A heavily left-footed attacker who is capable of playing anywhere across the front, but seems to favour a central attacking midfield role. Though he does also like to drift out on the right so he can cut inside on to his left foot. Personally though I think he is at his best on the left wing where he can use his pace to drive past defenders and into the box.
His play does tend to suffer from poor decision-making, he is fairly predictable, but without the class of Robben to make the same thing work even though a defender knows what is coming. Added to that he has an inconsistent, even loose, first touch which sees the ball controlled a bit too far away for secure possession, allowing himself to be robbed easily.
When defending he shows a good workrate, particularly when chasing back after an opponent, but his press is awful. He stops short of actually getting close enough to an opponent on the ball to apply any pressure. There is a large gap that allows the opponent to play out very easily. It is just wasting everyone's time by doing what he does and leaves space behind him.
He would be better off dropping off if he is not going to commit properly to the press. It reminds me of someone trying to look like they are doing something, without actually doing it. He seems to be merely keeping up the appearance of pressing, as I cannot believe he would not have been coached to close down properly at Man City.
There does seem to be a lot wrong with Diaz's positioning defensively, which is why he is so often caught having to chase back. If his positioning was better he would not be spending so much time chasing the play, it would be in front of him instead.
Off the ball in an attacking sense his movement is all about drifting into space in front of the opposition defence, it is very rare he is aggressive without the ball and makes a driving run to get a chance to shoot or create a chance. That is why his end product is lacking, as he rarely gets into threatening areas without the ball at his feet. When he does get the chance he likes to slide a throughball across the box.
When he does have the ball at his feet he will look to run with it often, but that loose touch is a problem and his close control is often not tight enough to enable him to get the ball past a defender. Diaz is reliant on using pace to run past players and get to a position he can cause a problem. If he gets in a shooting area he has shown good composure to slot the ball home but his crossing is not the same level at all and is usually wayward.
Physically he is short and looks slight. However Diaz has that low centre of gravity shorter players often have that enable them to shrug off challenges that you would not expect him to be able to cope with due to his stature. He probably is still a little on the lightweight side though.
Requested by - Penfold