KRC Genk has one of the most famed youth systems in all of Belgium, with plenty of big-name stars making their way through the youth teams before eventually making their debut for the senior team.
Examples include Kevin de Bruyne (now of Manchester City), Leandro Trossard (now of Arsenal), and Thibaut Courtois (now of Real Madrid), among countless others.
Now, another player is beginning to make his name within Genk’s youth ranks Konstantinos Karetsas.
The 16-year-old is currently playing a starring role for Genk’s second team, Genk II, in the Challenger Pro League.
While Karetsas is yet to make his debut for Wouter Vrancken’s side, he has been on the bench in multiple Jupiler Pro League matches recently.
With five goals and three assists through 16 appearances in the Challenger Pro League so far this season, the 16-year-old is one of the best chance creators in the Belgian second tier, and it is only a matter of time before he makes his debut for the senior team.
This tactical analysis and scout report will take a more detailed look at some of the budding strengths and any potential weaknesses in Karetsas’s game and how he may fit into the tactics of Vrancken once he makes his senior debut.
Player overview
Regarding a preferred position for the 16-year-old, Karetsas tends to play as the central attacking midfielder in Genk II’s 4-2-3-1 system.
However, he has also been deployed as a right attacking midfielder or sometimes even as a centre-forward.
Trying to narrow down some of Karetsas’s strengths and weaknesses, the pizza chart graphic above helps to give a good idea of where the 16-year-old excels and still lacks.
Looking at the attacking section first, Karetsas ranks highly in goal contributions per 90, shots per 90 and dribbles per 90, showing the creative impetus that he displays on a consistent basis for the Challenger Pro League side.
The current Belgian U17 international, however, does not have a high percentile rank in opposition penalty area touches per 90, with the 16-year-old looking to create most of his chances from outside the penalty area, though his dribbling inside the area does cause problems, as we will look at in more detail later.
Looking now at the possession section of the chart, we can see that Karetsas ranks pretty much in the middle half of players in these categories, with the only slight outlier being a 77th percentile rank in dangerous passes per 90 minutes.
He is not the most refined yet from a defensive perspective, but this is understandable considering his age and lack of top-level experience.
Dribbling & take-on ability
One of the main strengths that Konstantinos Karetsas possesses is his dribbling ability, with the 16-year-old constantly a nuisance to opposition defenders in and around the penalty area.
Through his career in the Challenger Pro League, Karetsas has been averaging 7.88 attempted dribbles per 90 minutes, with a success rate of 44.2%.
When digging a little deeper into the statistics, Karetsas has won four penalties for his side this season, the second-highest total in the Challenger Pro League.
He has also been fouled 45 times, the fifth-highest total in the Belgian second tier for that category.
The data viz graphic above shows the progressive runs and dribbles from Konstantinos Karetsas for this Challenger Pro League season.
As we can gather from the graphic, the majority of these have occurred in the right half-space, with Karetsas usually drifting more to the right if he starts in a central attacking midfielder position.
However, he will attempt to dribble past opponents in any area of the final third, with this tendency to take opposition defenders on the key to the 16-year-old’s chance creation ability for Genk II.
The figure above shows an example of Konstantinos Karetsas’s dribbling ability, with this showing a good idea of how he gets past opposition defenders in tight spaces.
The 16-year-old is in possession on the near touchline, with the opposition full-back faced up against him with tight marking.
Karetsas is able to get the defender off balance, with the Belgian youth international dropping his shoulder and looking to go around the outside before using his momentum to shoot back the other way and aim inside.
This puts the defender off balance, allowing Karetsas to get past him on the inside after the full-back puts a foot in to attempt a tackle.
The 16-year-old then keeps the ball very close to his body as he dribbles inside, preventing the two interior Lommel defenders from attempting to stick a foot in to win possession back, which would have risked fouling Karetsas.
The Belgian youth international is then able to play a pass through a tight window into the feet of his advanced attacker, allowing the attacking move to continue progressing.
The image above shows another example of the dribbling ability that Karetsas possesses, as well as his vision to evade danger.
In this phase of play above, the ball is thrown in towards Karetsas, who has his back to goal and two opposition defenders coming from behind to try and dispossess him to start a counterattack.
However, the Belgian youth international is able to sense the oncoming danger, with his close control being put on full display.
As the ball is thrown towards him and takes a bounce, Karetsas lets the ball come to his back foot before taking a back heel touch towards the opposition goal.
He then is able to quickly turn and face towards goal, before getting onto the end of his own pass and sending a cross into the penalty area due to the space he was able to create by leaving two defenders out of the play completely.
As this section has been able to show, while his dribbling may not yet be perfect and does require some fine-tuning, he has already turned into a high-quality player when looking to take opponents on, with his ability to win penalties, win fouls, and get past opposition players 1v1 crucial for the chance creation he can provide for his Genk II side.
Vision and range of passing on the ball
Another strength that is beginning to become more prominent in Karetsas’s game is his vision, as well as his range of passing on the ball.
The 16-year-old only has three assists this season but has missed some matches in the Challenger Pro League due to injury or being involved with the first-team squad.
Still, through his appearances in the Challenger Pro League this season, Karetsas is averaging 28.71 passes per 90 minutes, with a pass completion rate of 73.1%.
Karetsas is also averaging 4.02 passes to the final third per 90 minutes, with 3.79 being played into the penalty area.
The dataviz graphic above shows the progressive passes of Konstantinos Karetsas this season, which looks at line-breaking passes, with highlight arrows being assists or progressive passes that were played into the penalty area.
What we can gather from the data is that Karetsas looks to create chances from all areas of the attacking third, not just in the central areas or wide right.
This makes him a hard player to defend against, with the Belgian youth international able to pop up in pockets of space almost anywhere inside of the final third.
The image above shows an example of the vision and range of passing on the ball that Karetsas has shown at times this season.
The Belgian youth international is able to gain possession in a pocket of space between the opposition lines, with Karetsas able to turn and drive towards goal under no pressure.
Further forward, the Genk II forwards are pinning the opposition backline back, which allows Karetsas the ability to drive forward without being engaged by the opposition full-back.
Eventually, Karetsas spots the run of the forward beyond the opposition’s defensive line and is able to play a perfectly weighted pass into his path.
The full-back gets caught ball-watching, allowing the forward to run onto the end of Karetsas’s ball and drive into the penalty area.
The ensuing shot results in a great save from the opposition goalkeeper, but it still does not take away from the great through ball from Karetsas.
This next example shows even better the vision that Konstantinos Karetsas possesses when in possession inside the final third area of the pitch.
In this phase of play above against Deinze, the Belgian youth international is in possession just inside the final third, with Karetsas being put under pressure by one of the Deinze defensive midfielders.
This is when he is able to spot a run being made by a teammate off the blind side shoulder of the far-side Deinze defender.
Karetsas is then able to display his quality by picking out his teammate with a superb through ball, splitting the Deinze defence right down the middle and finding the feet of his teammate.
The end result is a penalty for Genk II, with the opposition goalkeeper taking the attacker out after the ball had already gone past him.
This example is able to best illustrate the quality Konstantinos Karetsas displays while in possession.
While it still needs some refining and more consistency in his progressive passing, his chance creation can be elite if he stays on this path, with a first-team debut for Wouter Vrancken’s side likely coming sooner rather than later.
Developing as a threat in front of goal
The final strength we will look at in this scout report of Konstantinos Karetsas is the threat that he is developing in front of goal, with five goals for the 16-year-old in the Challenger Pro League this season.
In fact, Karetsas is Genk II’s second leading goalscorer this season, and that is with some time missed this season as well.
From a statistical perspective, the 16-year old has averaged 0.42 xG this season, a relatively high total for a player that is not a centre-forward.
He has also averaged 2.8 shots per match this season, with 45.9% of those being on target.
However, Karetsas possesses a relatively low 2.27 touches in the penalty area this season, with most of his shots coming from a distance outside of the area.
The data viz graphic above shows the shot map of Karetsas this season in the Challenger Pro League, and as we can see, the 16-year-old really does not attempt many shots in general.
However, he has shown an ability to be clinical when he does take shots, with a majority of them either being on target or blocked by an opposition defender.
We can also see that two of his three goals from open play this season came from outside the area, highlighting the tendency for Karetsas to shoot from distance.
The image above shows an example of the shooting range that Karetsas possesses, and one of his main tendencies in front of goal.
As the 16-year old gains possession about 35 yards from goal, he dribbles from a central position to a more wide position near the corner of the 18-yard box before cutting back inside.
This is a common tendency for Karetsas, as the Belgian youth international prefers to shoot on his favoured left foot.
The ensuing shot is on target, but the goalkeeper is able to easily catch the shot.
This predictability that Karetsas displays could be detrimental to him in the future, but it could also be a strength of his if he becomes an elite finisher with this predictable move.
For example, Arjen Robben and Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka are two players who are sensational with their left foot, and even though opposition defenders and goalkeepers know what is coming, it is impossible to stop.
The image above shows the spectacular that Konstantinos Karetsas is capable of when it comes to his ability in front of goal.
In this phase of play above, the 16-year-old picked up the ball in the right half-space, near midfield, and proceeded to drive uncontested towards the edge of the penalty box.
This is when Karetsas is able to produce the spectacular.
The Belgian youth international is able to move the ball inside onto his left foot before firing an unsavable shot into the far top corner past the goalkeeper.
While it is clear that Karetsas is not the finished product in front of goal, he clearly has the capability to produce something spectacular at any moment when he finds himself in a favourable shooting position just outside of the penalty area.
This is an area of his game that will surely improve as he gains more professional experience, so it will be interesting to see how many goals he finishes this current campaign by scoring.
Conclusion
As this tactical analysis and scout report has been able to show, Konstantinos Karetsas is the latest potential young star player to come through the Genk youth ranks.
While he is definitely not the finished product, he is only 16 years old and still has plenty of development left.
There is a very possible chance that he gets a debut for Wouter Vrancken’s side before the season ends, and it will be interesting to see how he fits into the Belgian manager’s tactics.
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