It’s fair to say that over the past 10 years, Benfica have potentially been the best club in European football at identifying talented young players, developing them and eventually selling these stars on for obscene money.
In recent years, players such as Darwin Núñez, João Félix, Rúben Dias, and Ederson have been signed for little to nothing before being moved on to some of the biggest clubs on the continent. The Portuguese giants profited roughly €185 million from selling Núñez and Félix alone.
Even this season, players such as World Cup-winner Enzo Fernández and young centre-back António Silva are being touted as world beaters in the near future, potentially making the Primeira Liga champions bucket loads of cash.
But as ever, when players leave Benfica, the club have ready-made replacements waiting in the wings, all thanks to their incredible scouting department. Having lost Núñez in the summer, The Eagles have invested in a new number ‘9’ — one with massive potential in the game.
Scandinavia is a hotbed of talent at the moment and Benfica have managed to secure one of the best, bringing 22-year-old centre-forward Casper Tengstedt to the Estádio da Luz from Rosenborg in the Eliteserien.
Having helped the Norwegian side to a third-place finish in 2022, Tengstedt finished as the third-highest goalscorer in the division with 15 goals in merely 14 league matches, equalling the tally of Ivorian David Fofana who has just earned himself a blockbuster move to Premier League titans Chelsea.
Tengstedt, a product of Midtjylland’s esteemed academy, has just bagged a transfer to league-leaders Benfica for a reported fee of around €7 million, making him Rosenborg’s most expensive sale behind John Carew to Aston Villa more than twenty years ago, according to Transfermarkt.
With the eyes of the world on Benfica to develop some of the best young players on the planet, let’s deep-dive into an analysis of Tengstedt’s overall game in this scout report.
This will be a tactical analysis piece, looking at Tengstedt, his strengths, weaknesses and how he could fit into Roger Schmidt’s tactics in Lisbon.
Player profile
Tengstedt stands at 5ft 11 inches, or 181cm. At the age of 22, he has definitely finished his physical growth and so will not get any taller right now.
Furthermore, the Danish centre-forward weighs 76kg, or just under 12 stone, which means that the striker is anything but lean or underweight. Tengstedt’s weight means that he is quite big for his height and is extremely powerful, able to hold off defenders with his back to goal or in shoulder-to-shoulder battles.
Prior to moving to Rosenborg, Tengstedt was playing in the Danish First Division with Horsens and had been playing all over the frontline and sometimes even in the middle in a three-man midfield. This was evident in the player’s heatmap in the 2021 season with Horsens.
When playing in several different positions, Tengstedt managed to gain unforgettable experience in these different roles which has certainly shown in his all-around game as he’s matured as a player.
Later in this analysis, we will dissect his excellent link-up play and ability to create opportunities for others, not just merely put the ball into the back of the net.
However, upon arrival at Rosenborg, club coach Kjetil Rekdal, a former Rennes, Borussia Monchengladbach and Molde midfielder, opted to give Tengstedt a more defined role in his system.
Rekdal believed that the young striker had all the capabilities to lead the line for his side, and so Tengstedt became the focal point of Rosenborg’s potent attack. Even the player’s heatmap is more refined, with much more density present in and around the penalty area.
This turned out to be a defining moment in Tengstedt’s career. The Denmark U21s international had a lot of experience as a centre-forward but was often shoehorned to the wide areas due to his speed and creative nous.
Under Rekdal, he flourished up top, playing in a rotating strike partnership with Ole Sæter, Stefano Vecchia as well as Kristall Máni Ingason at times, scoring an abundance of goals while also registering several league assists — but more on this later.
Nevertheless, while Rekdal preferred to deploy a 3-5-2 last season, there were times when Tengstedt was also asked to play as a lone striker in a 5-4-1, but these occasions were few and far between.
Having established Tengstedt’s profile and history, let’s now take a look at the player’s in-game strengths and weaknesses, beginning with the most important of all for a frontman — scoring goals.
Prolific in front of goal
Denmark have a wonderful habit of producing top stars, hence why the northern country have been able to qualify and go far in major international tournaments of late.
From Christian Eriksen to Andreas Christiansen, there is no shortage of talent in the country as of right now. However, one position that may be lacking depth right now is the centre-forward department.
Yussuf Poulsen, Martin Braithwaite, Kasper Dolberg, Jonas Wind and Andreas Cornelius are all excellent players in their own right, but it would be amiss to label them as prolific goalscorers.
In the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the EURO 2022 semi-finalists scored just one goal in their three matches, as the nation bowed out in the group phase in what was deemed a relatively comfortable group for progression prior to the tournament commencing.
While it may be a little too early for a senior call-up, there’s no doubt that Kasper Hjulmand will be keeping a close eye on Tengstedt in Portugal as he looks to fix the nation’s goalscoring woes.
Regardless, Tengstedt’s goalscoring record over the last six months has been nothing short of impressive.
Since his move to Rosenborg at the beginning of last August, the former Midtjylland man bagged 16 goals in all competitions which is a ridiculously impressive feat.
What’s even more impressive is that Tengstedt outperformed his xG by double the number, showcasing his efficiency in front of goal. 16 goals in merely 51 shots is not to be laughed at. Per 90, the centre-forward boasted a record of 1.02 goals.
Almost half of these strikes came from in and around the six-yard box, telling us that Tengstedt is somewhat of a poacher too, or a fox in the box if we want to be a little more clichéd.
From scouting the 22-year-old, what stands out the most is definitely the range of goals that he scores too. From tap-ins from a yard or two out to long-range bangers to some sumptuous chips and acrobatic finishes, Tengstedt has the lot in his locker.
Here is an example of Tengstedt running through on goal from the left-hand side and dinking the keeper after the shot-stopper came out to make the angle incredibly tight.
Tengstedt’s movement in the box is exceptional too. In a similar manner to fellow Scandinavian Erling Haaland, the new Benfica signing likes to make late, explosive runs into the six-yard box to latch onto the end of crosses into the middle.
This is one of the biggest reasons why the Dane has bagged so many goals from a very close range and it allows his teammates to put balls into these areas, knowing there’s a great chance that he will be on the end to tap them home.
Unfortunately, one aspect of his game that still needs huge improvement is his aerial ability. Tengstedt isn’t the tallest frontman but is still quite powerful. Nonetheless, he does tend to struggle when crosses are put into the air for him to attack.
Over the course of 2022, Tengstedt competed in 5.8 aerial duels per game in all competitions and came out on top in a lowly 37.4% of them.
However, there is more to being a striker and getting into dangerous positions than making late runs into the box against a deep backline. Tengstedt also attacks the depth quite a lot and uses his rapid speed to latch onto threaded through balls behind the opposition’s high defensive line when the opportunity arises.
One way he does this is by making diagonal runs across the centre-backs and on their blindside rather than running in a straight line. This means that his wingback/fullback can make passes down the line past opposition defenders, instead of relying solely on his midfielders for through balls.
In the previous image, Tengstedt made a darting diagonal run behind the defender on their blindside which allowed a ball to be slipped between the opponent’s centre-backs and fullback for him to sprint to.
From there, he used his pace, power and balance to run directly at goal, curving his movement at an angle which allowed him to cut inside on his stronger right foot to aim.
Even if there is a defender in the way, Tengstedt is superb with the ball at his feet and has a lot of tricks in his locker to beat his man, including some really nifty cut-backs that Johan Cruyff himself would be proud of.
This drag-back allowed him to send the defender packing but to also get a shot away on his weaker left foot, and despite his effort being saved, it was an excellent piece of craftsmanship from the forward.
Moreover, Tengstedt has an excellent technique when looking to put the ball in the net from a further range than the six-yard box. The Dane gets over the ball really well and wraps his leg around it which allows him to smash the ball with a thunderous pace, making his shots really difficult for the ‘keeper to save.
Most of the time, these types of shots dip, meaning that Tengstedt can unleash thunder strikes from far out that trouble the opposition’s goalkeeper.
There is no real downside to Tengstedt’s finishing, apart from his lack of aerial prowess. However, one area that the young striker needs to work on desperately is his decision-making.
Tengstedt knows that he has a powerful shot and can score from far out but sometimes, his eyes are on the goal and the goal only, meaning he takes little notice of his surroundings, even if a teammate is in a much-better position.
Here, Tengstedt gets over the ball and sees a tiny gap open up for him to take a shot despite there being several defenders in the way. In the meantime, he has completely disregarded his teammate standing in acres of space to his right in a much better position.
This chance was wasted in the end, but could have easily been an assist had he squared it to the free man. Tengstedt’s selfishness in front of goal can be extremely frustrating to watch at times and is definitely something that Schmidt will be looking to iron out of his game in Lisbon.
Dropping deep to receive
Some centre-forwards in football focus solely on goals and have little involvement in the build-up to a goal. Erling Haaland and Darwin Núñez are some that spring to mind.
Then, some players are incredibly active in their side’s play, constantly dropping deep to receive between the lines or in lower areas of the pitch to keep the ball moving and to provide a progressive passing option for their teammates, while their overall output can suffer as a result of not being in the box enough. Gabriel Jesus and Anthony Martial are prime examples of these types of ‘number 9s’.
Thankfully, Tengstedt has found a nice balance in his game and was instrumental in helping Rosenborg to break down low defensive blocks by offering plenty of short passing options, dragging defenders out of position and creating space for other runners.
From the striker’s pass map last season, we can see that there were a lot of backwards passes in deep areas and balls out to the flanks which shows that the striker acts as a wall pass quite a lot to keep the play moving.
Tengstedt is not really a player that plays facing the goal. In fact, he is the opposite. The Denmark youth spends most of the game with his back turned to goal and looking to receive to his feet.
While the 22-year-old attacks the depth really well, he is not the type of forward to do this all the time, unlike Marcus Rashford, for instance, who constantly runs in behind the opposition’s backline, trying to use his speed to take advantage of the space behind the defence.
Tengstedt creates space for others in this regard. While he may be a bit selfish in front of goal, the young striker is selfless when dropping to receive to drag markers out of position.
When Tengstedt does drop deep to receive from his teammates with his back to goal, he almost always plays the ball first-time and doesn’t dilly-dally in possession. This means that his team have to up the tempo in the final third to try and take advantage of the space left by his marker who has stepped out of line to jump him from behind.
However, there are times when the forward does take a first touch when receiving from deep. When these situations arise, there is just one thought on Tengstedt’s mind which is to move the ball out wide.
This is quite similar to how Haaland plays. The Norwegian machine always looks to move the ball out to the flanks before making an explosive run into the penalty area where he can try and latch onto the end of the high cross from one of his wide players.
Tengstedt is the same, except he prefers the ball to be played on the floor where he can run onto the delivery and tap it home.
Here, Tengstedt has received the ball from deep, taking a touch to push the ball to his left before using his right foot to bend his pass out to the wing-back.
From there, the new Benfica man makes an explosive run into the box, expecting a cross to come into the middle.
Having excellent hold-up play and being actively involved in the build-up while trying to break down an opponent’s block is becoming increasingly important for centre-forwards in the modern game. Tengstedt can certainly contribute to this.
However, he is also the type of player that can unlock a sturdy defensive block, which makes him an all-around gem to have in the frontline. Let’s deep-dive further into this.
Playmaking
We spoke earlier about how Tengstedt’s decision-making in the final third can be sub-optimal, meaning he should have picked up even more assists than he did for Rosenborg last season.
While this is true, the Dane still chipped in with several assists for the Norwegian giants and was key to creating many goals for his side.
In a previous section, we analysed how Tengstedt likes to make runs off the shoulders of defenders to get in behind the backline. These opportunities do not just lead to goals for the young striker, but he also gets himself into dangerous crossing positions, especially down the sides of the penalty area, more commonly known in the analytics sphere as the ‘assist zone’.
From there, he can cut the ball across the face of goal and find a teammate making a run into the middle of the box to get on the end of his balls.
When Tengstedt is in these positions, he puts low crosses towards the six-yard box. This is identical to how he likes to receive deliveries too and the 22-year-old rarely opts for high balls to the back-post.
His crosses are extremely pinpoint at times as Tengstedt has a knack for playing these passes right in front of a backline with enough speed to reach his teammate but with the perfect weight so that the ball doesn’t miss the intended target.
Of course, these runs into the channels to cross the ball low and hard are helpful when playing in a two-striker system as the other centre-forward is likely in the box, trying to get on the end of the pass.
However, it may be a bit more of an issue when Tengstedt is deployed as a lone striker as he will be the one expected to be in the penalty area. It may mean that his overall play could be slightly limited up front on his own.
Nevertheless, Schmidt may feel that Tengstedt could operate really well as a winger, with a more creative role instead of leading the line as a solo ‘number 9’.
Last season, in the Eliteserien, having played just 14 games for Rosenberg in the league, Tengstedt finished as one of the top assist-providers, registering a respectable 3.57 expected assists while accumulating six in total.
While this also shows that Tengstedt’s teammates were really efficient in front of goal, his expected assist numbers also ranked highly among Eliteserien centre-forwards, indicating a decent level of creativity relative to his peers.
Observing Tengstedt’s shot assists map closely, we can see that all of his assists come from the assist zone and are cut-backs or low crosses really close to the goal.
Tengstedt is not the type of player who faces the opposition’s defence and tries to thread balls through spaces the size of the eye of a needle, but he still contributes using his own strengths by running into the space between the fullback and centre-back to create high-quality chances.
Conclusion
Tengstedt’s rise has come out of nowhere, really. While 22 isn’t old for a player to make a big move, the Dane didn’t emerge as a prodigal talent in the youth ranks and had to graft to show his talent in Denmark, Germany and Norway before taking a huge leap of faith to sign for one of the best clubs at developing players in the world right now in Benfica.
The Primeira Liga will take some adapting for the young man after transferring from the Eliteserien, but Tengstedt undoubtedly has the physical attributes and the mental strength to become Benfica’s newest diamond in the rough.
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