Player in focus: Lucas Piazon

Almost every day, you hear one or the other commentator praising a young lad saying “this guy will be huge”. Raheem Sterling got his first Liverpool start against Manchester City the other weekend and was quite impressive. However, he is not the player we should be talking about.

There happens to be this young 18yr old boy in Chelsea’s youth ranks who is touted to be the next big thing in world football. He happens to be so good that people actually call him the next “Kaka” (Yes! He is Kaka’s Doppleganger). Everyone simply adores him, some because of his wonderful skills, ball control and others mainly for his good looks. This guy happens to be Lucas Piazon!

So, apart from being an absolute must buy on FIFA 12, just who exactly is Lucas Piazon?

Profile

Gustavo Lucas Domingues Piazón was signed by Chelsea from Sao Paolo for a fee of £5 million, which could eventually rise to £10 million. There were question marks as to why Chelsea have paid such a high fee for a young 17 yr old, but for Chelsea this was more “for the future” kind of signing. Chelsea secured his services by means of a pre-contract, leaving behind the likes of Juventus and Barcelona. Later, São Paulo announced that Piazón could only play for Chelsea senior team after 20 January 2012 when he became eligible to obtain a work visa, but he would join in the 2011 summer transfer window. A boyhood Chelsea fan, Piazon considered this to be his “dream move” . Probably, one of the main reasons as to why he snubbed Juventus.

Where does he play?

There is a lot of debate as to where exactly Lucas Piazon fits in the Chelsea team. Some say he is a striker, some of them regard him to be better off as a winger and others say he is best suited for the No. 10 role. Last night, I was watching the Chelsea U-21 side thrash Wolves U-21 5-0, thanks to a brace by Piazon. Piazon started the game on the left wing, but that does not complete the whole story. Although he started on the left wing, Piazon is usually given more of a free role, something similar to what Eden Hazard and Juan Mata have mastered in the senior side. Piazon has been provided the freedom to roam around in the attacking third, be it playing as a second fiddle to the striker Patrick Bamford or making his own ‘Hazard-Mata’ combination play with Billy Clifford.

So far he has only made 1 start with the first team and that was in the pre-season this year against PSG, where he managed to score and save us the embarrassment. In that game, Di Matteo preferred him in a more advanced and a fixed role of a center forward though you could still see that he, at times, preferred moving in the left hand side. If I was the manager and from what I have seen of him, I would stick to the free central role he has been so accomplished with in the youth side.

Strengths and Weaknesses

From what I have seen of Piazon in the youth/reserve/first team, the player has huge amount of potential. Following the footsteps of the likes of John Terry, Lassana Diarra to name a few who won the Chelsea Young Player Award, it will be interesting to see whether he can continue his impressive run in the first team. But of course, no player is perfect and every player has a couple of weaknesses to add to his profile.

• At 6 ft, many would expect Piazon to do well with aerial balls. Of course, he is not as tall as Peter Crouch that he is going to win probably everything but still Piazon, compared to many footballers, has a decent height considering his age, but still winning headers remains one of his biggest weaknesses.
• His second weakness is a very usual one – the overall built. Like many other Chelsea players of similar age group (Clifford, Josh) it remains one of his biggest weaknesses. This is the only reason why I feel he is not ready for the Premier League. Premier League can be ugly at times, when it comes to nasty injuries. I expect I expect him to improve in this department, as he still has years ahead of him.
• Coming to his strengths, Piazon’s ability to play anywhere in the field remains his biggest strength. His versatile nature will help him adjust anywhere in the attacking half of the team.
• Piazon’s ability to score goals and create spaces for others is excellent. He has got that little Brazilian flair in him and his excellent skill and close control makes him a very all round player.

Time to step up?

Piazon won many hearts when he won the Young Player Of The Year Award last season and since then there have been talks that it is time Piazon finally steps up into the first team or moves up from the U-21 team. But where does he fit? Roman’s recent obsession of “Beautiful football” and Chelsea’s transition period could turn out to be the moment for Piazon to break in this side. Seeing Chelsea’s current roster, the squad is filled with creative talent – Oscar, Hazard, Mata, Marin, Moses, Sturridge, Torres and Ramires. These are the players whom you will usually expect to see in the final third of the field. Though the competition level is high, it is not about being the regular starter right now as he still has a long way to go for that. With the transfer window ending and Chelsea still not strengthening their striking area leaving them with just 2 genuine Centre Forwards in Torres and Sturridge, this can be the area Piazon can look forward to. With Lukaku out on loan and Drogba out of the club, Piazon can be hopeful of getting that 3rd choice CF role.

But there is a more feasible option. A loan deal? Judge yourself. A 3rd choice Centre Forward role, fighting among top players for the #10 role, a position on the wings or a loan to some other club. It need not necessarily be a top notch Premier League club. It could be something similar to Josh’s spell at Middlesbrough, which will be a good deal in my opinion.