Leonardo

Name; Leonardo de Vitor Santiago
Better Known As; Leonardo
Age; 25
Club; Ajax
Nationality; Brazilian
Value; £1.8m
Position; AML
Screenshot; Current Ability

Signing Him;
Leonardo starts the game on the transfer list thus making him one of the best bargains you can pick up at the start. He is not overly fussy on which teams he will move to and seems happy to move to most clubs in the top tiers of their country from Rangers to Watford you’ll be able to attract him almost anywhere within reason. Ajax are normally insistant they receive at least £1.1m for the Brazilian but are happy to part when this figure is reached with Leonardo himself requiring wages of under £10k, possibly lower with some haggling. Leonardo will also not need a work permit as has Dutch listed as his second nationality.

Stengths
Think of a typical Brazilian attacker and you think of flair, creativity and the ability to dribble past anything that moves. Think of these and you’ve summed up Leonardo, the lad is a typical skillful Brazilian and offers everything a winger should and more. His most impressive ability is without doubt his dribbling [20], paired with his amazing pace [15], flair [18], agility [19] and technique [20] as well as decent strength for a winger [13] shows that with the ball at his feet he can rip teams to shreds. All these attributes show what he is capable of with a ball at his feet, he also had decent crossing ability [14], passing ability [17] as well as very high creativity [19] meaning he really is an assist machine out on the left hand side adding an end product to his ability to manouvre around the pitch with ease.

Weaknesses
Again thinking of a typical Brazilian attacker you’d be forgiven for thinking of a lazy git. Unfortunately Leonardo is just that. His work rate is a measly [2] along with his very poor teamwork this could cause severe problems. This begs the question of what type of midfielder you need, if you need a battler who will track back and help your team defend then forget Leonardo straight away. If you want to take the risk of having someone with very low work rate on your team but with outstanding technical ability then go for it. As expected with a winger Leonardo will never be a makeshift defender with very poor defending abilities and also will never have the ability to challenge in the air with poor jumping and heading attributes. It is of my opinion that his technical ability far outweight his poor work rate though and is well worth the risk.

Tactics;
Primarily listed as an attacking left winger Leonardo is also competent in an attacking position in the centre or on the right, also listed as being able to be deployed as a striker or centre mid but this is not recommended if you wish to extract the raw talent this Brazilian offers. Not much players in the world can match Leonardo’s technical ability on his day and it may be a good idea to focus your team around him to cater for his poor work rate and teamwork. Make sure the ball is played to his feet as he has an excellent first touch and as described above once the ball is at his feet its easy from there.

Like with all wingers instruct him to run with the ball often as well as crossing the ball often. A mixture of deep crosses and crosses from the byline are recommended as Leonardo can easily mix it up with both, this of course depends on the type of strikers you have to aim for. His high creativity can also be taken advantage off with high creative freedom, letting him do his own thing and letting his technical ability do the talking. Its also recommended he is told to focus his passing rather directly to the strikers, utilising his world class passing ability. With a player with such poor work rate it is a good idea to instruct him not to close down regularly as this certainly isn’t an area he excels in.

Training;
Firstly areas such as attacking and ball control are areas which Leonardo is already almost perfect in but should be focused on a little to maintain this level of ability, there is no point in high schedules involving these routines as there is little room for improvement. I would focus a schedule for Leonardo on tactics and aerobic work. A high tactical routine will help improve Leonardo’s somewhat average balance etc as well as his pace which although is good, can be improved on and would only make him a better player as a result.

Defending and goalkeeping routines aren’t essential at all and although maybe a very small amount of defending neither would be missed from a schedule. A high shooting routine may also help Leonardo with his goalscoring exploits improving his finishing and composure as well as long shots which may well see him crop up in the scoresheet as well as helping others do so. It is down to preference for how rigorous a set piece routine he is given but in my opinion set pieces are not essential for any player and this would only unneccessarily increase his workload.

Final Verdict; 8.5/10
It may seem a risk at first with his disappointing work rate and teamwork but this lads technical ability is outstanding. For £1.1m you are getting a typical Brazilian attacker who is just approaching his prime, the word profit instantly springs to mind as this will certainly be heading your way if he hits form and attracts interest. A typical winger with added flair and creativity, a must buy if you are in the market for a left winger!