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Bakkali joins a long list of talented Belgian footballers
Like all modern wingers, Bakkali loves to cut inside and have a go from long range. His lethal shooting technique and finishing make him a complete goal scoring package. He has scored 3 goals in the Eredivsie this season from only 5 attempted shots. The Belgian youth international never hurries into attempting a pass, always looking around for options before making a pass. His wise head and clear thought process play a big part in his passing, an attribute for which he has credited Mark van Bommel for helping him.
He has a good variety of passes in his arsenal for a 17-year-old, also averaging an impressive 91% passing accuracy in Eredivisie this season. Quick one touch passing has become a hallmark of Philip Cocu’s young side and Bakkali is perfect for such a brand of football. Bakkali always looks to be involved, always willing to make quick one-twos with his teammates.
Here, having received the ball from Adam Maher, the defenders try to close Bakkali (circled) down but he quickly passes it on to the overlapping right-back, Arias.
Vision
What’s beautiful to see is the ease with which he can thread a defence splitting through ball or pass, and what’s more to it is how frequently he manages to execute such difficult passes. An example of it is shown by the following image. Bakkali (circled), notices the empty space and at the same time notices the run made by his team mate and passes it on shown by the blue arrow. It only indicates the exemplary vision that he possesses to complete such passes at the age of 16.
Continuing on his immaculate vision, another graphic showing this particular attribute.
Aware of the run made by his teammate, Bakkali (circled) plays it through with ease.
As mentioned earlier, Bakkali is a perfect fit for quick one-twos and here’s why. Receiving the ball, he (circled) passes it on to his teammate and then swiftly moves to the space, highlighted by the black arrow, anticipating a quick return.
Bakkali is positive and comfortable on the ball and is rarely seen in clumsy positions. He isn’t fussed about having defenders hanging around his shoulders, he simply outpaces most of them. The PSV winger is always on the move, you can see him throughout moving around, looking out for vacuum spaces on the pitch, calling out for balls from the deep.
Apart from bamboozling defenders with his slick tricks and sheer pace, his awareness helps him in entering potential goal scoring areas like shown in the image.
Bakkali (circled), makes a perfect run, allowing him to move into a possible goal scoring position. Its very common phenomena of his playing style.
Although he is short in height, its difficult to tackle him because of his sudden burst of speed and tricky play. Bakkali is that sort of player that you will enjoy watching day in day out, he is an absolute delight to watch. Still raw, but its quite visible how much talent he has whenever one sees him on the pitch.
