Five years ago, Vinícius Jr
showed his talent to the world at only 16 years of age in Brazil, specifically at Flamengo, his youth football team since 2010, when he was only 10 years old.
There he thrived through all the youth categories until being capped for the first time in his career.
In his first
professional football experience in 2017, he played around 36 matches, including 7 in the CONMEBOL Sudamericana Cup. They reached the final butlost 2-1 against Argentinian Independiente.
Vinicius Jr took part in the final, being subbed in at the 72‘ minute.
He scored 4 goals and 1 assist.
One season later, his talent totally exploded in Brazil.
He played around 32 matches
and scored 10 goals and 3 assists. He made his full debut at the CONMEBOL Libertadores Cup but wasknocked out in the round of 16.
Vinicius Jr demonstrated to the world his ability in small spaces, his change of speed, and multiple skills, from truly incredible to very bad ones that he had to work on, like decision-making and finishing.
However, that was the most important season of Vinicius’s career, as he signed the biggest contract.
The one that attached his name to Real Madrid, making him the new signing of the greatest club in the history of football.
Things started to heat up in Madrid, Spain, and all around the world, as Florentino Pérez paid up to 45 million euros for an 18-year-old Brazilian player, who, for some football fans, didn’t show off anything special during his first two seasons as professional footballer.
Others wouldn’t believe he would do it in Europe because his physicality and the pressure were starting to get bigger and bigger for a 176cm, skilly and pacey winger from Sao Goncalo.
Additionally, he arrived at Real Madrid in the reconstruction season after Cristiano Ronaldo’s sale to Juventus.
The 2018/19 campaign wasn’t his best.
He played 31 matches,
18 of which were in La Liga. In his first appearances with Los Blancos, he scored 2 goals and delivered 2 assists.
It was very low numbers for a player that came with such expectations.
The press and fans started making jokes and harsh criticism of Vinicius Jr. because he was very unpredictable and challenging to beat but failed too much in his decision-making.
Nevertheless, his talent was undeniable, and two seasons later, at the end of the 2020/21 campaign, he started to develop more on his mental and technical attributes when it was time to deliver a big end product.
The 2021/22 season and the start of the present have been reminders that players can massively evolve within days, weeks, or months.
He has become one of the best players in the world, ended 8th in the 2022 Ballon d’Or, and won his first UEFA Champions League and second league title, being a vital part of Carlo Ancelotti’s tactics.
In this data analysis piece, we will use our exclusive xGold tool to identify five similar players to Real Madrid’s star, Vinicius Jr, using a U23 age filter and looking only for right-wingers and left-wingers in Brazil’s Serie A and Serie B.
TFA’s XGold is a custom-built tool that allows us to find players who perform similarly to any player in the world from a data perspective.
To visualise the data of our players for this analysis, we use statistics from Wyscout, which will be run through Python to create pizza charts that show a set of metrics we use to assess left-wingers.
The data will also be converted into percentile rankings, with each player compared to fullbacks in their own leagues.
Firstly, though, we will need to understand how Vinicius Jr has become an impressive and vital player in Real Madrid’s attacking system.
Vinícius Junior Scouting Report At Real Madrid & Spain
Pizza charts show three aspects of a player’s input to the game: in the attacking and defensive phases, and in-possession terms that get a little more deeply about passes, whether they’re progressive or dangerous ones that break lines.
As you can see, Vinicius ranks exceptionally high in every one of the attacking and in-possession aspects.
Vinícius Júnior’s style of play leaves him constantly in 1v1 situations or inside the box where he can finish build-ups, putting him in the 83rd percentile on Goal Contribution, as well as the 85th percentile in Expected Goal Contribution and Shots.
One of the biggest attributes and technical features that Vinicius Jr has in his game is his dribbling.
He’s a confusing player with his fast footwork.
He likes to do simple dribbles, such as cuts inside or outside, but he also does some tricks of magic, as a typical South American winger, especially Brazilians.
His dribbles are the one that ranks the highest amongst wingers from La Liga in the 92nd percentile.
This means he frequently goes for a 1v1 duel.
Another impressive skill the 22-year-old has is his aggressive entries to the box and progressive carries that cover long distances on the pitch.
He ranks in the 85th percentile in this stat.
In possession, he
provides productive passing input to his team, ranking in the 74th percentile for passes tried per 90 minutes andin the 64th percentile for accurate passes.
This is a good position for an aggressive and individualistic winger like Vinicius Jr, who tends to receive the ball with space and carry it into the box.
However, he has grown into a more associative player.
We can also watch that he’s usually being found when Real Madrid are in the attacking phase of the game, as he registers in the 71st percentile in received passes per 90.
Two of the most critical metrics inside passing terms are the dangerous and progressive ones.
If a player ranks high on both, this means he looks to break lines and create forward passes.
He ranks in the 78th and 64th respectively.
Defensively, Vinicius is not the most intense and defensive-minded player on the wing.
Real Madrid doesn’t look to make him a
high-pressingmachine monster, as they don’t try to apply this kind of system.
#1 – Adson Scouting Report At Corinthians and Brazil – RW – 88% match
The right-winger ranks in the low percentiles in terms of goal contribution and expected goal contribution (34th), as well as shots (40th), a little bit of what the Real Madrid star showed in the first steps of his career.
However, Adson ranks very high in the dribbling aspect, with a 77th percentile, which explains the Brazilian player’s very good technique for constantly going for a 1v1 duel.
He also ranks in the median percentile (54th) of opposition penalty area entries, and he needs to improve greatly in this area.
In the passing feature, Adson is one absolutely incredible player.
He basically ranks close to the top for each metric.
He likes to get on the ball frequently (95th percentile for received passes), he does passes (95th percentile), most of them are accurate (86th percentile), and he also looks to break lines, assist, or progress (79th percentile for progressive passes and 77th dangerous passes) through the thirds and different channels of the pitch.
This just shows how significant his input can be in the associative facet of the game.
Defensively, Adson also shows great stats and percentile positions
. He usually wants to fight in a defensive duel to try and win the ball back (81st percentile), but he also ranks very high in accuracy, as he won most of these defensive duels he ran into(90th percentile).
Nevertheless, his input on the air is not the best as he’s not the tallest, listed at 171cm.
He’s more of a little player that’s very slippery in small spaces.
He ranks at the median of how many duels he tries per 90 (54th percentile), but he doesn’t win them often, as he ranks in the 34th percentile.His positioning also ranks decently in the 68th percentile.
Statistics like interceptions go into this metric.
xGold match to Vinicius Jr – 88%
#2 Gabriel Teixeira Scouting Report At Grêmio FBPA and Brazil – RW – 87% match
the offensive phase of the game.
He creates many chances for his team to rank very high in goal contributions and expected goal contributions, respectively, in the 71st and 86th percentiles.
He’s also a super-aggressive style of winger, being one of the players in the position who takes more shots per 90 minutes, with a 92nd percentile rate.
However, he’s not the kind of player who looks to go on 1v1 duels with his dribbling technique (39th percentile) but has the pace and power to make progressive carries that enter the box (89th percentile).
Beyond that, he ranks below the median for passes per 90 and the accuracy of those passes (44th percentile for both).
He’s usually taking dangerous passes (89th percentile) to try and create opportunities for his team.
This low percentile at passes but high one at the dangerous ones. He tries only to define what he looks like with the ball on his feet: Direct ball progressions.He has a decent rate of how much he gets in contact with the ball (68th percentile), as well as passes that aren’t executed only to break into the attack but progress in other ways (61st percentile in progressive passes).Defensively, the Gremio player doesn’t show an incredible output for the team, as he doesn’t tend to go for a duel and also doesn’t win them (39th percentile for both), but he has decent positioning (61st percentile).As well as this, he’s not into aerial duels, with his height of 169cm.
However, as he tries less, he ranks high in how much he wins (71st percentile).
xGold match to Vinicius Jr – 87%
#3 Jajá Scouting Report At Cruzeiro and Brazil – LW – 85% match
Our tool xGold provides the third most similar player to Vinicius: Cruzeiro‘s 21-year-old left-winger Jajá.
The Brazilian shows incredible similarities to the former Flamengo player as he ranks very high in every attacking metric.
He contributes at the very top for goals and expected goals, which means he’s usually getting into goal-scoring positions or creating chances for his team.
His 72nd percentile and 75th percentile ranking, respectively, on goal and expected goal contributions, explain this.Jajá
also makes shots often at Cruzeiro and sits in the 69th percentile, but the most impressive aspect is how high he is in terms of dribbles per 90 and opposition box entries, with 93rd and 96th percentiles, respectively.
Top-numbers for a young-talented player.
Similar to Gabriel Teixeira, he gets constantly on the ball and enters passing circuits in the build-up stages.
However, he has to get much better in terms of accuracy (3rd percentile).
This also means he likes to go always forward, but he has to find the right balance between these.
The 66th percentile at passes, 90th percentile at dangerous passes, and 78th percentile at progressive and received are absolutely wonderful for a developing winger.
Defensively, he’s
very similar to Vinicius and Gabriel Teixeira. However, he has a difference in terms of how many defensive duels per 90 he goes to, as he goes to many with the 84th percentile but does not win many of them with the 39th percentile.Although he’s not that little, listed at 180cm, he doesn’t tend to go to aerial duels and win them, and like some of this shortlist, his positioning is decent (66th percentile).
xGold match to Vinicius Jr – 85%
#4 Matheus Martins Scouting Report At Fluminense and Brazil – LW – 84% match
Let’s reverse the order and start with the defensive metrics for 19-year-old Matheus Martins, the youngest player on this list.
The Fluminense left-winger is the fourth most similar player to Vinicius Jr.
Above us in the pizza chart, we can see the Brazilian is not the best player in the defensive phase of the game, as he’s not constantly getting into defensive or aerial duels (sitting in the 27th percentile for both).
Besides, he doesn’t usually support during the defensive phase, although he wins most of his little duels (94th percentile) but not the aerial ones (11th percentile).
Like the four above this analysis, he has a decent positioning (69th percentile).
In the associative facet of his game,
he likes to get on the ball (72nd percentile in received passes) and contribute to the team’s link-up plays (77th percentile in passes per 90). However, Matheus Martins is a safer player in possession (66th percentile accuracy in passes) whodoesn’t break lines often or progress in different ways (49th percentile for progressive passes and 40th percentile on dangerous ones).
He’s a different style of player if we watch the pure attacking statistics.
Top numbers on opposition box entries (88th percentile) and a high percentile in dribbles per 90 (66th percentile), meaning Matheus Martins is more of a carrier and dribbler when he’s on the ball.
Even though 19-year-old Matheus hits the median for goal contributions (63th and 55th percentile) and below the median for shots (44th percentile), this has to be one of the things to get better.
xGold match to Vinicius Jr – 84%
#5 Maurício Scouting Report At Internacional and Brazil – RW – 84% match
Last but not least, we have Maurício from Internacional of the Serie A of Brazil.
The 21-year-old shows a decent display in the defensive metrics
. He doesn’t go to many duels but wins most of them (17th and 66th,respectively).
However, in terms of aerial duels, he’s listed at 174cm, but he’s not afraid of going to a decent rate of aerial duels per 90 (51st percentile), but he doesn’t hit the standards for how many he wins (33rd percentile).He’s the player with the lowest positioning inside the shortlist, but he’s still an average one (52nd percentile).
Associatively, he’s not the best player.
Maurício doesn’t
normally touch the ball for Internacional (41st percentile for received passes), and he doesn’t make dangerous, progressive,or mainly passes (38th, 37th, 43rd percentile).
His game style is very different from that of many of the players deployed on this shortlist in terms of passing.
Maurício, however, is a good player in terms of attack.
He’s not the best dribbler (48th percentile), but he’s an aggressive player
who enters the box at every game. He ranks as one of the best players in this feature of the game (92nd percentile) and doesit several times at matches.
On the other side, Maurício also likes to contribute to goals and create scoring chances for his team with a 70th and 76th percentile, as well as a decent rate of how many shots he takes per 90 (64th percentile).
xGold match to Vinicius Jr – 84%
Conclusion
Brazil is always developing players in every line, position, and different roles who have redefined football several years and decades into the sport’s history.
Ronaldinho, at his time, was an absolutely different model and profile to what kind of winger we used to see.
Cafú transforms the full-back spot into an attacking one, and we can spend 10 or 20 paragraphs discussing Brazilian players who created new roles for the game.
Vinicius Jr is marking an era, a golden one, at Real Madrid, where he shows people what a winger who attacks space and carries the ball forward with power and intelligence can provide to his club: a Champions League.
The players in this shortlist are just the tip of the iceberg of what this amazing country produces year after year.
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