With fans of La Liga beginning to see the first glimpses of Spanish football in the 2024/25 season, one of the most exciting narratives surrounds the players looking to break out during the present campaign.
Whether it is their debut season in La Liga, or an emerging opportunity for a more impactful role within the matchday squad, Spain’s top-flight is riddled with world-class talent and incredible youth potential.
Last season saw the emergence of incredible Spanish youth talent taking centre stage for the likes of Barcelona in particular, inevitably contributing to the nation’s impressive summer success in both Euro 2024 and the Paris Olympic Games.
As the summer transfer window draws to a close at the end of the week, our tactical analysis and La Liga scout report will begin to highlight several Spanish talents who will look to make themselves a household name by the time the season comes to a close in May.
The following analysis will focus on players from various positions, including those looking to showcase their abilities in valuable cameo appearances and those entrusted with huge responsibility within their present squad tactics.
Pau Victor Scouting Report At FC Barcelona
It may come as little surprise that our list featured another Barcelona youth prospect who has shown incredible moments of promise throughout the first pre-season under the tutelage of Hansi Flick.
The 2023/24 campaign saw the natural emergence of Lamine Yamal on the global stage, providing the 17-year-old with an excellent platform to lead his country into battle come the European Championships in Germany.
With most of Barcelona’s attacking contingency unavailable for the majority of the pre-season, Pau Victor stepped up to the plate and cemented his position within the Barcelona matchday squad ahead of the current La Liga season.
Having proven his worth as an instinctive goal-scoring threat on loan at Barca Atletic last season, Victor possesses an impressive player profile which matches the intentions of his new manager.
Pau Victor’s greatest strength could potentially be his positional versatility, which boosts his appeal when vying for crucial minutes. He has shown promise when playing as an out-and-out striker, left winger, and even a roaming playmaker when Barcelona was without Pedri.
Victor successfully embodies the Barcelona identity, which many fans have become accustomed to, with the Spaniard exhibiting excellent control between the lines and a natural desire to exploit space within the opposition’s defensive line, as shown in pre-season as he was successfully able to split two world-class central defenders in Rüdiger and Militão before converting for Barca.
His role as more of a creative facilitator would allow him to successfully intertwine with Barcelona’s attacking arsenal, especially considering how Flick has begun to promote the idea of central progression in the final third.
Throughout their opening fixtures, we have seen the likes of Ferran Torres, Raphinha, and Lamine Yamal have much more attacking possession through the half-spaces and a much more aggressive pressing system, which would benefit from an injection of youthful initiative from Pau Victor.
As Barcelona looks to consistently battle its financial struggles, Pau Victor’s opportunity to become the main understudy to the ageing Robert Lewandowski could not come at a more optimal moment, especially considering the departures of Marc Guiu and Vitor Roque.
Álvaro Djaló Scouting Report At Atheltic Club Bilbao
Despite cementing himself as a recognised contributor with Sporting Braga in last season’s Champions League, Álvaro Djaló returns to Spanish football ready to make an impact in one of the world’s most competitive divisions.
The dynamics around his €15m transfer have changed since his arrival was confirmed back in March, as Athletic Club Bilbao were perhaps waiting for Djaló to fill the attacking void left by Nico Williams’s expected departure.
With Williams’ transfer rumours cooling recently, Ernesto Valverde can hurt their opposition with two extremely dangerous wingers on either side of his attacking formation.
Djaló arrives at San Mamés on the back of an impressive final season with Braga, displaying his attacking intent with 0.48 non-penalty expected goals per 90 and 5.92 touches in the opposition penalty area per match.
It would suggest that the Spaniard fits the profile of a much more driven and penetrative winger who is consistently looking to break into the opponent’s box with his progressive carrying prowess. He is not afraid to switch wings or even drive into the central areas of the pitch to affect play.
Djaló’s direct nature will hopefully blend well with Valverde’s offensive system, which allowed them to emerge victorious in the Copa Del Rey. This system revolved around the opportunity to spring into life when taking advantage of their high turnovers in transition.
The rapid development of Nico Williams will allow the Athletic Club supporters to once again trust Ernesto Valverde’s management and the coach’s ability to enhance the overall quality of his impressionable wide players.
As it stands, Djaló areas of improvement revolve around his creation within the final third, having only completed 3.72 shot-creating actions and 0.17 expected assists in Liga Portugal.
Despite concerns that his underlying statistics would translate to a much tougher division when playing in La Liga, the beauty of Valverde’s system is that his wingers have shown such dramatic improvement in their attacking output when given increased responsibility.
Nico Williams saw an increase from 0.14 assists and 0.41 crosses into the penalty area per 90 in the 22/23 season to a whopping 0.44 assists and 0.87 crosses into the opposition’s box in the 23/24 season for Athletic Club.
With such a similar profile to key members of the Athletic Club attack, it isn’t surprising that the Basque outfit splashed the cash and brought in another offensive heavyweight as they look to continue their success on both the domestic and European stages.
Cristhian Mosquera Scouting Report At Valencia CF
The past season taught us a lot about Cristhian Mosquera‘s defensive capabilities, especially considering the central defender racked up the ninth-most minutes of any outfield player across the entirety of La Liga—despite only turning 20 this June.
There is little doubt as to why Rúben Baraja was so desperate to keep the young central defender, who represented a beacon of hope that his manager would undoubtedly like to build around for Valencia’s immediate future.
His defensive abilities are boosted by his colossal stature and rapid recovery speed.
He is particularly useful when covering on the right-hand side of a Valencia defence that features the adventurous attacking movement of Thierry Correa.
Mosquera hasn’t always found things easy from these exposed positions towards the flanks, but the Spaniard did rank 4th in La Liga for defensive duel success across the 2023/24 season.
His ability to track runners floating inside the pitch and protect the interior spaces of the pitch has allowed him to showcase his defensive talents in 1v1 scenarios, as shown below when representing his country en route to a gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
Whilst his progressive statistics may not exactly jump off the page, his familiarity with operating in tight windows when playing futsal has allowed him to improve his press resistance and operate calmly under pressure when circulating possession between Mamardashvili in goal or his other central defensive teammates.
This is highlighted by Mosquera’s 88.3% passing completion, which was bolstered by his impressive success when completing passes between 15 to 30 yards up the pitch, completing 94.1% and ranking within the 83rd percentile of LaLiga central defenders.
It must not be forgotten that this is all within a Valencia system, which completed the fourth-lowest progressive passes per 90 in La Liga last season, with only 38.7 to their name each match.
With another LaLiga season under his belt, Valencia fans will be hoping that Mosquera reaches that next level in his footballing career and grows into a world-class central defender, but maybe not at such an increase which would see clubs across Europe looking to prise him from the Mestalla.
Juanlu Sánchez Scouting Report At Sevilla FC
The new La Liga season marks the movement of players and the switching of managers.
With Sevilla deciding upon García Pimienta as their new leader, he has instantly begun to sprinkle his tactical variations across his new squad.
Juanlu Sánchez captured the attention of Spanish football fans last season.
The attacking full-back’s qualities on both sides of the ball attracted interest from Barcelona and Real Madrid.
However, despite deputising for Sevilla legend Jesús Navas on the right side of the defensive line last season, Pimienta has modified his starting position and unlocked a whole new challenge for Sánchez as we embark on the 2024/25 season.
Sánchez showcased his defensive work rate last campaign with 5.18 tackles and interceptions per 90 minutes.
He also ranked in the top 2% of La Liga when it came to successfully challenging opposing dribblers, further accentuating his success when defending out wide.
Therefore, it was particularly surprising to see Juanlu Sánchez lined up on the right side of Pimienta’s central midfield three in a 4-5-1 when starting the season against Las Palmas.
Whilst it was expected that this move had been made to replace the defensive solidity in midfield, which had been lost through Saúl Ñíguez’s matchday one suspension, Sánchez and Saúl played alongside one another in midfield when facing Villareal in matchday two.
It signifies an increase in overall responsibility for Sánchez, who saw large amounts of Sevilla’s ball progression flowing through the young Spaniard with consistent positioning through the central areas and the right half-space.
The energetic nature of Sánchez’s pressing efforts also meant that Pimienta entrusted him with a poignant role as the first line of Sevilla’s resistance early on in their match against Las Palmas. Sánchez accompanying Romero up front created a 4-4-2 out-of-possession.
When advancing into the final third, Sánchez excelled in the previous campaign with his attacking positioning and the frequency at which he received progressive passes, surging into threatening areas of the pitch.
This is still evident when observing his early performances this season. Still, crucially, his varied positioning causes increased stress for the opposition defenders, especially when storming the space on the right flank, which had been deserted due to Ocampos dropping deeper to collect the ball.
Sánchez has already shone this season as a key contributor in Sevilla’s new-look system under Pimienta, finally adding direct influence on his team’s ability to consistently score goals- one of the main reasons why we think the hybrid defender/midfielder can become one of the best in the league.
Conclusion
With the 24/25 La Liga season upon us, it will certainly be exciting to see how these players develop and look to enhance their clubs en route to success in both Spanish football and when emerging on the continental stage.
Despite being at different points within their professional careers, each of those players mentioned above has the ability and opportunity to take advantage of their new-found responsibility, harnessing any doubts and external pressure to produce confident performances and truly ‘break out’ this campaign.
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