Gianluca Prestianni made headlines across Europe this summer. Several major publications reported that Barcelona, Real Madrid, and West Ham United were among the teams interested in the Velez Sarsfield forward. However, the latest reports suggest that Benfica are leading the race for his signature and could bring him in for £10m in January next year.

Prestianni, born in 2006, is an exciting talent and has already made 23 Primera Division appearances for Velez this term. He has added eight more in the Copa de la Liga Profesional and two in the Copa Argentina, proving to be an asset to the team. While he has scored only three goals across competitions, the 17-year-old’s talent has turned heads around Europe.

This scout report will provide a tactical analysis of what he brings to the table and an analysis of his immense capabilities.

Player Profile

Prestianni’s career is still in its infancy but has already taken significant strides. The Argentine has been with Velez throughout his brief career, moving from their U20 team to Velez II in September 2021. He was then promoted to their first team in January this year.

A winger by trade, Prestianni’s versatility is one of his key strengths, as he can operate on either flank and also in central areas. Out of his 33 appearances this term, he has played on the right 31 times, with one appearance each on the left flank and as a centre-forward. However, as his touch map below illustrates, he tends to accumulate a sizeable number of touches across the pitch. He also occasionally drops deep to pick the ball up to turn into space, an aspect we will explore later in this scout report.

Apart from his exploits in club football, Prestianni has also won eight caps for Argentina’s U17 side, making his debut for them last year. In 547 minutes across those games, he has already scored three times, including goals against Uruguay and Portugal, and provided two assists.

Shooting and Goalscoring

Prestianni is not a high-volume shooter, averaging only 1.92 shots per 90 in the Primera Division this year. However, he gets 0.82, or 42.9% of those on target, which suggests that he tests the opposing goalkeeper a fair bit.

The teenager scored only three goals in 2023 (two in the league, one in the Copa Argentina), as outlined earlier. However, each of those goals provided a glimpse into the different facets of his attacking style.

His first goal for Velez came in a 4-0 win over Central Cordoba back in March, a game in which he was brought on in the 78th minute with his team already up by three. As Cordoba commit men forward for a corner in the hopes of scoring an injury-time consolation, Velez clear the ball to Lenny Lobato (marked in white), another talented winger, who beats his man to run into acres of free space on the counterattack.

Prestianni (marked in black), out on the right, sprints at the same pace as Lobato before peeling into the open space left by a scattered Cordoba defence. Lobato finds the perfect pass to the Argentine, who fakes a shot and sits the goalkeeper (marked in purple) down before sliding the ball home into the net, away from the defender on the line (also in purple).

For a teenager on the biggest stage of his fledgling career, the composure and poise Prestianni shows in that moment stands out!

His second goal came more than a month later against Colon, in his fourth consecutive start for Velez. Prestianni’s side went 2-0 down in the first half and struggled to break their opponents down before the forward halved the deficit in the 81st minute.

On this occasion, he stays on the right flank when the ball is played to striker Santiago Castro before starting his run by the time it reaches his feet. Prestianni makes sure he is onside when Castro plays the pass into his feet and latches onto it, sprinting forward before firing an absolute missile into the back of the net, leaving the goalkeeper helpless.

His third and final goal came in the first round of the Copa Argentina in June against Deportivo Espanol. Prestianni gave Velez the perfect start, putting them 1-0 up in the 20th minute, and they scored four more times before the 50-minute mark, eventually winning 5-1.

On this occasion, Prestianni also times his run to perfection to stay onside when Nicolas Garayalde plays a delightful through-ball, splitting the defence open. He races onto the ball, but unlike in the sequence against Colon, the goalkeeper rushes out, narrowing down the angle.

However, Prestianni shows plenty of composure again, lobbing the ball over the keeper and into the net to make it 1-0.

As is evident from each of the three goals, the Argentine possesses an innate finishing ability like few others and a wide array of shots. His ability to time his runs is also a major factor here as he seemingly is not over-eager to latch onto a pass; he was trapped offside only 0.07 times per 90 in the league in 2023.

However, Prestianni needs to work on his decision-making in and around the box. His shot map suggests that he has taken shots from narrow angles and some distance out rather than passing them up for better opportunities. He still possesses the ability to trouble the goalkeeper, as nine of his 18 shots from outside the area in the league were on target.

This comes through in the case below when he strikes a cleared corner first-time on the volley and forces a save. However, given his team were holding to a one-goal lead with two minutes of regulation left to play, a pass back out to the wing may have been the better decision in this case.

Similarly, in the sequence below from Velez’s 1-1 draw with Godoy Cruz in July, Prestianni (marked in black) does well to win the ball high up the pitch and skip past two defenders (marked in purple), even leaving one on the floor, on the right side of the box. However, with a teammate open to pass to (marked in white), he goes for a low-percentage near-post shot that is easily parried over the bar by the goalkeeper.

Of course, Prestianni is just 17 and will only improve in these aspects with more in-match experience and time on the training pitch. These examples are also not to demonstrate his creative abilities, as he has those in abundance.

Creativity and Ball Progression

In addition to his powerful shots and timely off-ball runs, Gianluca Prestianni is also a superb dribbler and ball-carrier. The youngster averaged 4.67 successful take-ons per 90 in the Primera Division this year, giving him a success percentage of 54%. This, on multiple occasions, led to ball progression and chance creation. He averaged 1.10 Shot Creating Actions via take-ons and 0.21 Goal Creating Actions per 90, placing him among his peers in the 98th and 99th percentile, respectively.

Furthermore, he has recorded 3.44 carries into the final third and 0.96 carries into the penalty area per 90, further elaborating on his ability to wreak havoc with his dribbling.

There are also several examples of the same, including the following sequence from the match against Godoy Cruz. Prestianni picks the ball up at the edge of the attacking third with two defenders (marked in purple) in close vicinity. His quick feet leave both in limbo, with one of them even falling on his back, and gives him more than enough space to make a calculated decision.

The Argentine makes the right one and slips his teammate in; however, the latter’s heavy touch takes him away from goal, and the move ultimately amounts to nothing. However, the sequence is a microcosm of what Prestianni can offer with his movement on the ball.

On other occasions, Prestianni doesn’t need to do so much, as in this phase of play from Velez’s 2-1 win over Arsenal Sarandi in September. Here, he simply opens his body up in a way that allows him to skip away from a defender, tightly marking him with just one excellent touch with his right foot. He races through the space vacated by his marker and pings a cross to his teammate’s head at the back-post, but the goalkeeper covers his angles well to make the save.

Prestianni did not record an assist this season, but it wasn’t due to a want of trying. His only senior assist came last season against Banfield, a 1-0 win in which he came off the bench in the 73rd and set up the winner six minutes later. In this instance, he sizes up his defender and skips past him on the right before whipping a delightful cross into the box. This time, it is attacked and converted from close to the penalty spot by Lucas Janson.

While his carries and crosses certainly pose a threat, they’re not the only creative tool Prestianni has in his arsenal. He averages 1.86 passes into the penalty area, only 0.34 of which are crosses and 3.85 progressive passes per 90 in the league. As the map below indicates, he has been able to deliver passes into the penalty box from both central and wide areas.

A notable example of Prestianni using a combination of his dribbling and passing ability to veer away from danger came in their defeat on penalties to San Martin in July. In this sequence, he (marked in black) drops into his own half and is surrounded by three defenders (marked in purple) when he receives the ball.

The Argentine wriggles away from all of them with a body feign and a couple of touches to charge into space before firing a pass to his teammate (marked in white). Unfortunately, it’s slightly overhit, and he fails to control it.

A more successful and efficient version came to fruition in the play below against Deportivo. Receiving the ball in his preferred area on the right wing, Prestianni displays some classic South American flair and dexterity to find his teammate unmarked in the box with an outside-of-the-boot pass that leaves three defenders helpless. While the pass is successful, the first-time shot sails over the bar.

Weaknesses and Areas to Work On

One of Gianluca Prestianni’s major positives, i.e., his ability to pick a pass, is also interestingly one of the areas he needs to work on. While his passing in the final third is excellent for a player his age, his overall stats in that aspect paint a more nuanced picture.

An adventurous passer, Prestianni completed only 20.13 passes out of 31.26 attempts per 90 in the league in 2023 for a relatively low success rate of 64.4%. Over 70% of his attempted passes are short or medium, making his accuracy even more questionable.

His touch has also let him down at times, as he averaged 3.57 miscontrols per 90 in 2023, while his instinct to charge beyond players, no matter how many, has also led to him being dispossessed 1.72 times per 90.

Prestianni’s defensive work rate is also an area opposing teams can exploit. He ranks between the 10th and 48th percentile in numerous defensive metrics, including overall tackles, tackles across each third of the pitch, challenges lost and touches in the defensive third.

If he is to break into one of the top European leagues, the teenager will have to improve on these fronts through work on the training pitch.

Conclusion

Gianluca Prestianni is undoubtedly one of football’s most exciting talents at the moment, and his offensive displays for Velez Sarsfield have proven that on more than one occasion. At 17, he has the world at his feet and could very well follow the likes of compatriot and treble winner with Manchester City, Julian Alvarez, to Europe in the near future.

At 17, his game could be more refined to its full potential, and the areas where he can improve are evident. However, Prestianni has shown significant improvement across just two senior seasons; his rise over the next few seasons, especially if the move to Benfica goes through and he can avoid injuries, looks frightening.