There are many ways for young players to get into the professional game.
The most common route is through a pro academy, while others transition to senior football at a low level and then grow from there.
In the case of Kelvin Pius John, the path has been different.
The 2003-born forward, dubbed the ‘Tanzanian Mbappé’ in The Guardian's analysis, chose to leave his country to study and develop as a footballer at Brooke House College Football Academy in Leicestershire, UK.
Away from the spotlight, he has grown into one of the most promising African players.
Having just turned 18, he has just signed his first professional contract with Genk in the Belgian Pro League.
In this tactical analysis, we’ll see what he can bring to his new club.
Kelvin John Player Profile
John is a right-footed forward who’s usually used as the centre-forward in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 formation.
Standing at 179cm / 5’10’’ and with an athletic and slim build, John’s main attributes are his lighting pace and explosiveness.
Despite being theoretically the lone forward in his team, Kelvin John style of play tends to move all around the final third and benefits from playing with other forwards who can occupy central positions or midfielders who arrive at the box.
His speed is very valuable when drifting wide and he can also be used on either wing, from where he can dribble, create and get into scoring positions too.
In his heatmap, we see that John participates a lot in the second line and tends to drift left more than right.
Like Mbappé, he’s intelligent enough to play in tight spaces and benefits from dropping deep.
He can then use his pace to get ahead of defenders with runs from those deeper positions.
Apart from his mobility and speed, John has proven that he has an eye for goals and the football IQ needed to create things for his teammates.
When we combine all these traits, we start to understand why he’s being compared to the France and PSG stars.
Kelvin John's Lightning Pace
As mentioned in the first section of this tactical analysis, John’s best attribute and what makes him stand out from the crowd is his pace.
Even when playing against players up to 2.5 years older than him in the 2021 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations, he still showed his pace is almost unmatched at that level.
An effortless and elegant runner, John seems to outpace rivals easily to gain an advantage of balls that most players would find impossible.
The next two examples show how impressive his speed is and the difference with players of similar age.
In the first one, we see John running for a ball that has been played to the right side.
He’s 4-5 yards behind his rival, but in the end, he gets to the ball first and leaves the defender behind.
In the second one, a long ball is played to John's teammate's head, and John starts his run despite being very far from the rival defenders.
The second part of the sequence shows the first touch after the head flick.
John recovered from his disadvantage and got to the ball before both defenders, despite them being well ahead at the beginning of the play.
John’s movements couldn’t happen without his excellent pace but he has much more than it.
In the next section of this scout report, we’ll focus on his movements and their impact on his team’s tactics.
Kelvin John Creating And Attacking Spaces
John is gifted with a great football IQ and seems to be a well-educated player overall.
He’s intelligent to spot free spaces and uses his pace to take advantage of them whenever he can.
With these intelligent movements, he also creates spaces for his teammates to play in and gives them solutions when they don’t know what to do with the ball.
Starting his movements from a slightly deep position, he creates the separation he needs to be unmarked but knowing he can recover that distance in a race with the defender.
This allows him to receive to his feet with some space to turn, as we’ll cover in the next section of the analysis and gives him a good overview of where spaces are running into them.
When his team is progressing through central areas, John often runs the channels between the centre-back and the full-back or between both centre-backs, offering a good solution for his teammate on the ball to make a through pass.
His pace also allows him to reach passes that are slightly overhit, making it even easier for the passer to succeed.
The previous image is a good example of these runs.
With a teammate reaching the final third with the ball under control, John first offers a good option to play it to his feet as he’s a couple of yards away from the defensive line.
But as soon as a rival steps out to mark him, he quickly turns and attacks the space between centre-backs with a diagonal run.
The pass is played to the left side of the box, and John gets it while also attracting both centre-backs and leaving his teammate unmarked.
John is always the easy option to create something during the buildup or when deep teammates are under pressure.
Playing off the shoulder of the last defender, he’s always an option to play long balls over the defensive line, and there are also good chances that he can get at the end of his team’s clearances if they’re good and powerful enough.
The next sequence shows what’s just been said.
In the first picture, the ball has just been cleared away by Tanzania U20. John is conscious of his chance and immediately starts his run despite his rivals' slight advantage.
The second picture shows when John gets to the ball, leaving behind the defenders and scoring with his left foot.
With his pace and sense of opportunity, John transformed a clearance into an assist.
John’s movements aren’t only aimed at spaces behind the defensive line.
Being a striker, he shows a good understanding of creating and attacking, free spaces inside the box and uses his speed to gain the extra advantage he needs to receive the ball in good scoring positions.
He’s usually positioned in the defender's blind spot and chooses the exact moment to make his run, leaving no time to react and anticipating many times.
Let’s see some examples.
In the next image, Tanzania U20’s attack comes from the right side, with John starting the play on the opposite side.
As soon as the ball is played to the right, he senses a cross could be coming and sprints towards the near post to anticipate the defender.
Note how he starts his movement from a position that’s very difficult for the centre-back to control. Once he realizes what John is doing, it’s too late to react because of his pace.
As he starts his runs from deeper positions than a normal striker would, he has the best overview to decide whether to accelerate to anticipate or stop and time his run to create separation from the defenders.
This allows him to appear in a second wave and be completely free when the ball reaches the goal line.
The next one is a good example of these late runs.
Instead of trying to anticipate in the near post where there isn’t much space or attacking the far post, a position already occupied by his teammate, John slows down his run and lets the defenders get away from him.
The lobbed cross finds him completely free, and he heads it into the post.
All these intelligent movements lead John to register 0.67 xG per 90, a very good figure for a player who isn’t a pure 9 and not playing for a dominating team.
His finishing is also great and he scores 0.75 goals per 90, using both legs to calmly place the ball near the posts but also showing some powerful long-range shots that can trouble goalkeepers.
As we’ll see in the next section of the tactical analysis, he adds good assisting numbers to that.
Kelvin John Dribbling And Assisting Abilities
John’s playing style involves dropping deep and playing in the second line.
As we mentioned before in this scout report, he likes to create separation by coming to the second line and generating spaces for himself to attack afterwards.
However, these movements are also aimed at receiving the ball and combining it with his teammates, using his good technique and body shape to receive between the lines, turn, and try to create from there.
When running towards the ball possessor.
John keeps an open body shape and is always ready to receive on the half-turn, face the goal, and drive the ball forward.
His speed and control mean he can break lines and carry the ball through central areas.
We see a good example in the next screenshot.
John receives the ball almost in midfield and turns with just one touch.
After that, he accelerates and rushes past three rival players to reach the edge of the box.
Once he’s around the box, John has good resources to attract players and assist his teammates.
With 0.23 xA per 90, he can create chances from the striker position, especially when given some space to run at defenders and drag them out of position.
In the next picture, we see a nice example of how John attracts players with the clear intention of freeing a teammate and assisting him.
He drives the ball from left to right at the edge of the box and fakes a shot, attracting the attention of two defenders who try to block him.
But instead of shooting, he plays a short pass to the right, where his teammate is in a much better position.
With his overview of the pitch and technical abilities, John can also create from crosses.
He always knows where his teammates are and picks good locations when he crosses, so he doesn’t need much space and time to create chances this way.
Knowing where the players are, he just needs the necessary space to strike the ball without raising his head to check the position of the players in the box.
With his acceleration, he can easily create that minimal space he needs.
John is also a very good player in tight spaces, even in situations where his pace doesn’t matter.
His touch is very good and combines quickly, creating danger in small pockets of space at the edge of the box.
With good players around him, he would excel in these combinations.
The next example helps us understand how John spots the chance to create quick combinations.
Here, he receives the ball just inside the box.
His body position is good, and he’s already in a good position to control and shoot with his first touch.
However, the player who made the first pass made a good run into the box, and John knew the best option was to complete the one-two, creating a great chance after attracting the rival defenders.
Finally, as we would expect for a player compared to Ligue 1 star Mbappé, John is also a great dribbler.
When he has space, he just needs a touch to get the ball forward and use his speed to get past defenders.
And in tight spaces, he’s skilled in creating spaces and forcing defenders to commit to one side before dribbling to the other.
The example below is also one of his trademark moves.
He likes to fake crosses from the left side to make a ‘Cruyff turn’ and leave the defender behind.
With just that space and his acceleration, he manages to get away from rivals and get into even better positions.
If the rival decides not to block the cross, then he’s also capable of assisting without dribbling.
We’ve already mentioned some of John’s key stats in this scout report, but it’s good to show them together.
In his matches with Tanzania U20 and U17, he registered 0.96 goal contributions per 90 minutes —0.75 goals and 0.21 assists—from 90 expected goal contributions—0.67 xG and 0.23 xA.
Being able to translate all his good characteristics into goals is the key aspect that makes John stand out from other quick and skilled players.
Conclusion
John’s path into professional football hasn’t been traditional, but it seems to be paying off so far.
Leaving Tanzania to play and study in the UK without being attached to a professional club has helped him grow into a very good footballer without the pressure of progressing through the ranks at a club and all the stress it brings to young players.
Now, after turning 18 last month, John has decided to join Genk as his first step in professional football.
Strong rumours linked him to Anderlecht, coached by former EPL and Man City star Vincent Kompany, but he has decided to join one of their rivals.
Genk is also known as a great development club.
He’ll have all the support he needs, especially after being recommended by the former Genk and Aston Villa striker Ally Samatta.
If he can show all his pace and skill in a league like the Belgian, he’ll be quickly linked to some of the best clubs in Europe.
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