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Bakkali in action in last year’s Europa League
The third goal he scored vs NEC was a pure piece of magic. Skipping past right-back Bovemberg, a sudden change of pace to leave centre-back Breuer behind before beautifully curling the ball into the top corner from inside the box. It takes a special talent to carry out such things on the pitch.
Bakkali’s first touch is clean and can effortlessly control the ball most of the times. He is also fairly creative, executing a key pass every 37 minutes.
Defensively, Bakkali doesn’t offer as much protection as one would have liked. His work-rate is fairly decent.
Usually, to counter Bakkali’s defensive contribution or the lack of it, Phillip Cocu uses Park Ji-Sung on the left side of midfield, who even at the age of 32, offers incredible work rate.
One of Bakkali’s drawbacks is that he over-complicates simple things, he tends to overdo stuff which isn’t required. He, himself has admitted that he still has to learn to keep things simple. Bakkali, like most of the young wingers, gets dispossessed often. Also, he tends to take one touch too many at times, often resulting in loss of possession. Concentration can also be a problem when things aren’t going his way.
However, most of these drawbacks can be attributed to the lack of experience and he is only going to learn and improve with more games at the highest level and with proper guidance.
Belgium are witnessing their golden generation and they will be hoping this teenage sensation selects them over Morocco.
All stats accurate as on 20th Sept,2013.
Transfer Situation
A host of elite clubs have shown interest in signing Bakkali since his goal scoring exploits vs NEC, though there are rumours of him being offered an extension when he turns 18, i.e in January.
World renowned scout and a close ally of Roman Abrahmovich, Piet de Visser, has recently admitted that he has this PSV Eindhoven winger on his scouting list. All in all, Bakkali is likely to be at an elite club in a few years time and PSV are bound to be offered a hefty price for him.
