Juan Foyth – Scout Report
Mauricio Pochhetino is well-known in the Premier League circles as someone who is astute at recognising young and underrated talent, and the Argentinian has certainly justified his reputation by nurturing the likes of Trippier, Dele Alli and Harry Kane into extremely promising players. The Tottenham manager has now set his eyes on Juan Foyth and is set to beat PSG for the signature of the Estudiantes centre-back who is making waves in his homeland of Argentina. (ESPN)
Player Profile
Foyth was born on 12th January 1998 in La Plata and has spent his entire career so far at Juan Sebastian Veron’s Estudiantes. He made his first team bow last season and has a contract until 2019.
Stat attack
The 19-year old has made a total of 7 appearances under Nelson Vivas, having garnered a total of 630 minutes of game time. He helped his team get 4 clean sheets in the 7 matches, which is a pretty good stat for a teenager in his debut season. He capped off the league season with a good showing for the Argentina side in the Under 20 World Cup this summer. His national team flattered to deceive, but it is evident that the youngster’s performance was noted by a number of clubs.
Playing Style
Foyth’s biggest asset is his composure on the ball, which makes him invaluable to any side that he plays in. With Pochettino favouring a 3-man defence, his interest in the young gun is understandable. His composure on the ball is ideal when the side is facing a high press and needs a way out, but that is an adventure that is also fraught with danger. Once or twice, Foyth has landed his team in trouble by dilly-dallying on the ball but has almost always made up for his errors by making some excellent last-ditch tackles. At 5’11”, he is not the most physical defender but he makes up for it by virtue of his superior game-reading skills. His long stride helps him make most of his challenges, which are very rarely mistimed.
Weakness
Despite being a good dribbler of the ball, Foyth’s poor positioning sense is something that needs to be improved radically if he is to make it big in the English Premier League. Moreover, it is also likely that he will have to beef up his body if he is to match the physical prowess of the Premier League’s best strikers. It is likely that Pochhetino will ease the youngster into the first-team squad, and will not feature him a lot during the course of the season. However, having fought hard to fend off interest from the likes of PSG, it is safe to assume that he will be groomed to become the bedrock of Spurs defence in the future.