The Right to Dream Academy is a well-known Ghanaian football academy, with FC Nordsjælland one of the key partner clubs.
The Danish club pick up many of the players that come out of Right to Dream.
Former Nordsjælland players who were signed through the academy include Stade Rennais’s Kamaldeen Sulemana and Ajax‘s Mohammed Kudus.
Simon Adingra followed the same path, with the 20-year-old Ivorian forward leaving Nordsjælland this summer to join Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion for a modest fee of 8 million euros.
However, the Ivorian is being loaned out to Belgian side Royale Union-Saint Gilloise for the 2022/23 season.
Adingra will be tasked with playing a part in replacing the goals that Deniz Undav leaves behind after joining Brighton this summer.
Additionally, RUSG will be competing in the Champions League qualifiers this season, aiming to advance to the group stages, where Adingra can showcase his talent on the continental stage.
This tactical analysis and scout report will examine some of Simon Adingra’s strengths, as well as how he may fit into the USG squad for this season.
Simon Adingra Player profile
Simon Adingra is a winger by trade, with the Ivorian commonly deployed as the left winger in FC Nordsjælland’s 4-3-3 system.
While he will attempt to cut inside and move into more central positions at times, out wide is where he spends most of his time, which can be illustrated in more detail by the heat map shown below:
The above shows Simon Adingra’s heat map from the 2021/22 season with FC Nordsjælland, which illustrates Adingra’s tendency to stay out wide on the left flank, looking to take players on and engage defenders in one-on-one situations.
Adingra is a capable dribbler, a skill that will be examined in more detail later in this article.
The interesting thing will be how Adingra fits into the plans of USG.
After losing Felice Mazzu to Anderlecht in the summer, USG replaced him with his number two from the previous season, Karel Geraerts, who was given the job permanently.
This likely indicates the style of play and formation that will remain the same.
Last season, USG utilised a 3-5-2 formation, which means it is possible that Simon Adingra may be deployed in a left-wingback role, but we will have to wait and see if that is the case.
Simon Adingra 1v1 and dribbling ability
Simon Adingra is someone who people would likely describe as a tricky winger, someone who loves to take on defenders one-on-one and get past them.
When taking a look at the underlying statistics for Simon Adingra’s dribbling for last season, the numbers are very good.
For FC Nordsjælland last season in all competitions, Adingra averaged 10.17 dribbles per 90 with a success rate of 52.9%.
Adingra also made 5.11 progressive runs per 90, which again shows the distance that he normally travels into the attacking third with the ball at his feet.
This section will take a more in depth look at the dribbling ability of Simon Adingra.
The image above illustrates an example of Simon Adingra’s dribbling capabilities.
He is isolated on the left wing 1v1 against the opposition fullback, which is a situation he likes to find himself in.
After a few step-overs, Adingra is finally able to get the defender to bite, sending him the wrong way before using a burst of acceleration and quick movement with the ball at his feet to get towards the byline.
With the defender out of the picture, Adingra can send a cross in from the byline, but unfortunately, it gets cleared by an opposing defender.
It’s not just in 1v1 situations where Simon Adingra can excel with his dribbling ability.
He is also excellent at dribbling in tight spaces, as shown in the example above.
Adingra is in possession and has three defenders in close proximity to him.
Even though he is being tightly marked and closed down, he is still able to use his close control to get past the defender in front of him, and away from the other two as a result.
When thinking of players who possess excellent close control and dribbling skills inside the penalty box, two names that come to mind are Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah and Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe, two players that surely Simon Adingra would love to be compared to.
The image above again demonstrates Simon Adingra’s capabilities in 1v1 dribbling inside the penalty area.
Once Adingra drives into the penalty box with the ball at his feet, he opts to take the defender on 1v1.
Adingra is able to bait the defender into diving in, sending him the wrong way as a result.
This allows the Ivorian to cut back inside and have a clear opportunity to shoot at goal, one that unfortunately is right at the goalkeeper.
Simon Adingra’s dribbling is undoubtedly one of the strengths he brings to a USG side that will be fighting on multiple fronts next season.
He will surely make them a better side going forward, adding a little bit more flair to the attack of the Brussels-based club.
Simon Adingra Goal-scoring ability
As an attacking player, Simon Adingra is expected to contribute goals to his side.
In his first campaign as a professional with FC Nordsjælland in the 2020/21 season, Adingra only made seven appearances, but did score two goals.
Last season was his breakout season, with Adingra making 33 appearances across all competitions for the Danish side, scoring 10 goals.
Regarding shot selection, this is an area where Simon Adingra could use some fine-tuning and development.
The graphic above shows the last seventy-five shots that the Ivorian took last season, and the noticeable problem is all the X’s inside the penalty box.
These are off-target shots.
By no means is Adingra poor with his shooting (ten goals is a good return for a winger).
Last season, Adingra attempted 3.14 shots per 90 minutes with 47.1% being on target.
This section will take a look at some of the goals that Adingra scored this season and break them down.
Being a winger, it is rare for Simon Adingra to find himself in central positions inside the box when the ball is played in.
In the attacking phase above, Adingra is positioned near the edge of the penalty box.
As the cross is played in from the near touchline, Adingra, who is unmarked, runs onto the ball and fires a shot on the half volley into the far top corner.
This shot was unsaveable, with the goalkeeper able to do nothing about it.
Though Simon Adingra does not have the goal-scoring ability of a typical centre-forward, he is still capable of the spectacular.
A few of Adingra’s goals last season came from his ability to put pressure on the opposition when they were building out from the back, forcing turnovers as a result.
This goal results from a mistake made by an opposition defender that Adingra is able to pounce on.
Although Adingra makes the mistake, he then needs to capitalise on the opportunity, which he has the composure to do.
Even though he is being closed down by three opposition defenders, Adingra is still able to convert the chance and score.
Simon Adingra also has the capability to score from the tightest of angles, as shown in the image above.
After a quick break from Nordsjælland, Adingra is able to receive the ball on the edge of the opposition’s penalty box unmarked.
As he drives into the box, the angle for the shot becomes extremely tight.
However, even with the defender closing him down and the goalkeeper attempting to narrow the angle, Adingra is still able to shoot the ball into the side netting for a goal.
Though he is only 20 years old, Simon Adingra has become a relatively capable goalscorer, especially considering he normally plays in a wide position and hardly drifts centrally except in shooting chances.
With ten goals to his name last season in only his first full season in senior football, there is potential for him to score even more, year-on-year.
Simon Adingra Defensive capabilities
As mentioned earlier in this piece, Union Saint-Gilloise is likely to stick with the same system next season under their new manager, Karel Geraerts, a 3-5-2 formation.
With this being the case, it most likely means Simon Adingra may be tasked with playing the left wingback position often.
The question was also raised as to whether Adingra would be able to be deployed in this position due to concerns about defensive capabilities.
Well, the Ivorian is actually a decent defender as well.
Last season for FC Nordsjælland, Adingra made 6.05 defensive duels per 90, winning 50.4% of them.
He also made 4.21 recoveries per 90 minutes last season, with 71.3% of them being in the opposition’s half.
This showcases his pressing ability, as well as his ability to defend from the front when possible.
This section of the scout report will examine some examples of his defensive play.
The image above shows an example of Simon Adingra in the defensive phase of play.
After the ball is played out from the back to the opposition fullback, Adingra puts pressure on him, engaging in a 1v1 defensive duel.
After a little bit of jockeying for possession, Adingra can dispossess the fullback, starting an attacking phase for Nordsjælland as a result.
With this being said, Simon Adingra is definitely an attacking first mindset player, as the image above illustrates.
In this defensive phase of play above, Adingra is 1v1 against the opposition attacker attempting to win back possession.
Unfortunately, Adingra opens his body up too much, which allows the attacker to nutmeg him and get past him into the open space behind the Nordsjælland defence.
Adingra is unable to recover quickly enough, which allows the opposing attacker to send a ball into the box towards the penalty spot.
While he is capable defensively, he still needs some improvement in this regard.
This final example once again demonstrates the defensive capabilities of Adingra.
He is able to put pressure on the opposition player in possession and, as a result, proceeds to poke the ball away from the opposition and to his teammate, winning back possession for his side.
At Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, there is every chance that Simon Adingra will be utilised as more of a wingback than in a central striker position.
This would give Adingra a chance this season on loan to refine the defensive side of his game, while also continuing to develop his attacking side.
With current Brighton left-back Marc Cucurella heavily linked with a move to Manchester City, if Adingra can improve the defensive side of his game, then he may become Cucurella’s long-term replacement on the south coast.
Conclusion
This tactics and analysis piece has been able to highlight the strengths that Simon Adingra possesses, as well as one area that may require some improvement during his loan spell with Royale Union Saint-Gilloise.
Though he is not immediately playing in the Premier League this season with Brighton, this is still a huge step up for the Ivorian attacker.
USG will be in the later qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League, and playing in one of Europe’s club competitions this season is a virtual guarantee.
This is the ideal platform for Simon Adingra to continue growing and developing.
