Maximiliano Zalazar 2023/24: The MVP of Barracas Central’s Unexpected Rise – scout report

The Copa de la Liga Profesional is in full flow in Argentina and Club Atlético Barracas Central have surprised many with their fantastic start.

Last season, Los Camioneros finished 13th out of 14 teams with just 10 goals scored and 14 points from 14 matches. However, this season, driven by youth and exuberance, they have finished the league stages in third place with 26 points, just one behind toppers River Plate, doubling their goal tally from last year.

At the heart of their improvement has been on-loan winger Maximiliano Zalazar, who recorded four goals and two assists while playing all 14 matches. The loanee from Boca Juniors initially came on as a substitute in Barracas’ first two outings but quickly gained manager Alejandro Orfila’s trust and started each of their next 12 games.

However, it’s not only his goal contributions that have stood out. Zalazar has multiple facets to his game, which this scout report will provide a tactical analysis of his playing style and fit within Orfila’s tactics.

Player Profile

Zalazar, born March 8, 2001, is still taking his very first steps into professional football. The Argentine began his career in January 2020 with Boca Juniors’ U20 and reserve side before moving to SC Internacional’s B team on loan in March of that year. He spent nearly a year and a half there before returning to Boca Juniors II in July 2021.

Zalazar made his debut for Boca shortly after, but he played just twice before joining Club Atlético Platense on a loan deal in January 2023. He played 23 times for Platense, scoring thrice, including two injury-time winners, before returning to Boca at the end of the year. The forward then joined Barracas Central in January this year and is set to spend the rest of the year with them.

Zalazar has notably won two caps for Argentina U20s as well.

With respect to his playing style, Zalazar is a left-winger in the truest sense of the word. As his heatmap below shows, the 23-year-old tends to operate close to the by-line and in the half-spaces between the right full-backs/wing-backs and central defenders.

He occasionally drops back or switches flanks but is largely out wide on the left, which makes his goal and assist return very promising. A lot of that is down to his activity in almost the entirety of the left-side of the box.

Dribbling and Acceleration

Arguably, the most exciting aspect of Zalazar’s play is his dribbling ability. At 70 kg, the youngster boasts excellent close control and a burst of speed that has tormented defenders this season, aiding Barracas’ ball progression.

This season, Zalazar has averaged 4.80 dribbles per season with a success rate of 54%. He also has 1.40 carries into the penalty area and 3.49 progressive carries, placing him in the 92nd and 77th percentile in those respective categories. Lastly, his 2.0 miscontrols per game is certainly manageable, given the number of dribbles he is attempting and the expectation for that number to increase in the near future.

As the map shows, he has the ability to carry the ball from deep areas into the box, getting past multiple defenders in the process.

His dribbling ability can also be seen in the sequence below from their 3-2 win over Instituto. Picking the ball up on the left, Zalazar (marked by the white dash) takes his man on, cuts inside him before an instinctive change in direction allows him to get past his marker and cut to the by-line before sending a cross into the box with his weaker left foot.

While he decelerates to change direction in this case, Zalazar is also capable of taking his man on and beating him with a burst of acceleration, as he does in this sequence below from his time with Platense. Having picked up the ball near his own box, he knocks it some distance ahead, sprints past his marker, and collects it on the other side, which has acres of open space to run into.

Goal Contributions

Scoring

While the dribbling and acceleration aspects of Zalazar’s game make him an exciting player, it is his ability to contribute the final product as well that makes him a player truly worth monitoring for top clubs.

This season, he has averaged 0.38 goals and 0.19 assists per 90 this season. He is overperforming his expected goals (xG) figure of 0.24, which is largely due to his efficiency as a shooter, getting 45.2% of his 2.98 shots per game on target. His 0.13 goals per shot places him in the 82nd percentile among players competing in the Copa de la Liga Profesional.

As his shot-map below shows, Zalazar possesses a threat from both inside and outside the box. While all four of his goals have come from inside the box, six of his 15 shots from outside the box have been on target. Additionally, his shots are seldom towards the centre of the goal, as he often looks to find the corners or the roof of the net.

Zalazar’s most recent goal came in Barracas’ thrilling 3-3 draw with Argentinos Juniors. The forward stays at the far post, and the ball falls kindly for him, following a cross from the right. He strikes it first-time and finds the top-corner with a precise shot, giving the goalkeeper no chance.

He does something similar in the sequence below against Independiente Rivadavia. As a ball is played from the right, Zalazar stays at the far post. The initial cross is headed on by a defender and the flick-on reaches Zalazar, who strikes it first time into the top corner with a powerful hit.

However, this is not all he has in his locker. As he showed in this goal against San Lorenzo during his time for Platense, Zalazar can also time his runs behind to perfection and then score with a superb finish across the goalkeeper after taking just one touch to settle himself.

Creativity

Zalazar’s dribbling ability often opens up avenues for his teammates, and his other key strength lies in his passing ability. While he completes only 68.7% of his 19.31 passes per game, his passing accuracy in the final third (57.1% accuracy on 2.69 attempts per game), while lower, makes him dangerous in attack.

Additionally, his 0.3 through-balls per 90 puts him in the 84th percentile among forwards in the Copa de la Liga Profesional this year, while his 0.3 goal-creating actions from live-ball passes places him in the 79th percentile. He is also more than decent at spreading play out, with 0.6 switches per 90 (83rd percentile).

In the sequence below, we see both his dribbling and passing come together to fashion an opening for Barracas against Independiente on the counter.

Zalazar can thus be a threat both with the ball at his feet and once he releases it. However, his overall passing still requires plenty of work. For instance, his current expected assists (xA) figure is a mere 0.15 per 90, which he has overperformed by delivering 0.30 assists per 90. Despite his ability to play through-balls, he averages just 1.30 key passes per 90, which certainly warrants improvement.

Weaknesses

The issues around his passing fit in nicely into this section as it is the area he needs to work the most on. However, there are a few other concern spots as well.

This starts with maximising his dribbling. Despite already being an electric dribbler, Zalazar averages just 0.2 fouls drawn per 90, placing him in the first percentile among forwards in the Copa de la Liga Profesional. His take-on success percentage of 34.30% (placing him in the 28th percentile) also requires more work.

Additionally, despite largely occupying wider areas, Zalazar is yet to develop an accurate cross. He averaged 2.69 crosses per game in this year’s Copa de la Liga Profesional, but his accuracy was just 28.60%. Additionally, only 0.2 of his crosses per 90 were into the penalty box.

Conclusion

Our analysis emphasises that Zalazar is a promising dribbler with a capable end product at the end of it all. During his spells at Platense and Barracas Central, he’s done enough to prove that he could very well be one of the biggest prospects in Argentine football at the moment, and his directness is a quality that should hold him in good stead.

Given he is in the midst of the earliest stages of his career, Zalazar is clearly not the finished product. He remains a risky passer and a poor crosser of the ball, but his assist and through-ball numbers prove that these are aspects he can certainly get better at. The youngster will also need to get better at winning fouls and marginally improve his take-on numbers. Zalazar has time on his side to work on his game and should get better with regular playing time at the highest level.