Who Is Kenan Yildiz?
At just ten years old, Kenan Yildiz became one of the youngest footballers ever to sign a deal with a sports brand.
Now, seven years later, it’s clear why Adidas couldn’t wait to sign him.
Yildiz was at Bayern Munich for three years before signing his contract with Adidas.
He had attracted the scouts’ attention because he could easily outplay his opponents.
As he established himself as the game-changing number 10, he was compared to Mesut Özil, although this comparison was partly due to Yildiz’s Turkish origins.
This tactical analysis offers an in-depth scout report on Juventus’ Kenan Yildiz, examining the 17-year-old’s playing style and characteristics.
This analysis will help us understand how and where Yildiz plays and identify the tactics that will most likely help him thrive.
Is he the next player to enter elite football under Massimilano Allegri?
Kenan Yildiz Style Of Play
Kenan Yildiz was born in Germany, but he decided to represent Turkey, the country where his parents lived.
Currently, he is one of the leaders of a very interesting Turkish youth national team.
Yildiz joined Bayern youth academy at the age of 7.
He was part of an exciting generation of Bayern players born in 2005, which includes Paul Wanner, Arijon Ibrahimovic, Tarek Buchmann, Vincent Manuba, Matteo Vinlöf, Ricardo Wagner, Samuel Unsöld, and Benjamin Ballis.
However, Yildiz has chosen a different path.
When it became clear in early 2022 that he would not sign a professional contract with Bayern Munich, the continent’s biggest clubs began courting him.
For a few months, it looked like FC Barcelona would sign Yildiz, but at the last moment, Juventus came around the corner with an offer to bring the 17-year-old to Turin in early July.
Yildiz’s best position is the false 9 or number 10.
However, he can also play on both wings.
His best role in attack is to be set up as an Advanced Playmaker.
Advanced Players register a high number of passes into the final third in matches they play and create chances directly in possession.
Players within this role tend not to perform a high number of defensive actions, including recoveries in their own final third, in favour of a more creative role on the ball.
Kenan Yildiz Data Analysis
Although the 17-year-old has struggled with several issues—including an early growth spurt that required him to adjust to his new physique—Yildiz has been a key figure in Bayern’s youth ranks during the 2021/22 season.
He started the season at the Under-17s and was quickly promoted to the Under-19s as a 16-year-old after scoring four goals and five assists in his first eight games.
Things are even better at Juventus: After 10 games in Primavera 1, in which Yildiz started 5 times, he scored 6 goals and set up 5 more goals for his teammates.
In the UEFA Youth League, he has started all 4 games so far and scored 1 goal.
As shown in his xGoals map below, Yildiz attempted 28 shots this season.
His xGoals stat per shot is 0.13.
However, out of these 28 shots, 7 resulted in goals.
Therefore, he overperforms his xGoals of 3.72 by 3.28 (=7 goals).
This means that his scores nearly doubled more often than expected.
Kenan Yildiz Attacking Phase
The playing style of Juventus’ latest youth signing is skilful, mobile and energetic.
The young player possesses a good body mass ratio, physical strength, power, stamina, and natural fitness, and feels comfortable in contact situations.
One of those situations is shown down below against Cagliari U19.
He receives the ball in the half-space and immediately attracts three opponents.
For a player of his size, he combines excellent pace, agility, footwork, and coordination.
As a typical number 10 and advanced playmaker, he enjoys dribbling.
Below, we can see both his successful and unsuccessful dribbles.
He wins a high number of his offensive duels.
But at the same time, Yildiz has the technique, ability, and confidence to execute killer passes and set up goal-scoring opportunities for his teammates.
Additionally, Yildiz always tries to find a vertical option in his game, so he is very capable of pushing his team forward to finishing positions.
We can see his shot assists map down below.
This shows from which positions he tries to assist his teammates.
Also, he is able to deliver pinpoint passes and crosses.
Above all, he also operates comfortably with his weaker left foot.
This is key in several situations when he is in tight spaces and needs to find solutions.
He uses his body to shield the ball and then plays a forward pass, as seen in the situation against Benfica below.
Yildiz likes to be fielded in a free role as an attacking midfielder, where he is given space to roam the pitch.
The Turkish youth national team player is very creative with his off-the-ball movements. He likes to find the best space to receive the ball with good timing, linking up the team’s midfield and attack.
He often drops in between the lines to receive the ball and play a progressive pass with one touch, as in the following situation in the match against PSG.
The former Bayern Munich player is able to produce powerful and dangerous runs upfield on the counterattack in attack and offensive transitions.
His progressive runs are visible on the map below.
Thanks to his ability to shield the ball and his excellent close control, it is extremely difficult to dispossess him of the ball.
Yildiz is a press-resistant player thanks to his good composure and retention skills under pressure.
In the image below, we see him dropping deep to receive the ball and dribbling past four opponents.
So he brings the whole team time and space in attack.
That is a skill required at the top level and will increasingly be important to adapt to Juventus’ first team.
As another advantage, he is a competent set-piece taker.
Therefore, he is a direct set-piece threat.
If something is to be improved, he must work on his composure to become even more efficient in the final third.
Kenan Yildiz Defensive Phase
As already said, Yildiz has a good body mass ratio, physical strength, power, stamina, and natural fitness.
This benefits him in defence as well.
In the defensive phases, Yildiz seems aggressive and tenacious.
However, he can still improve his defensive work rate.
As an advanced playmaker, there is nothing that Yildiz is outstanding at.
Down below, we can see his defensive actions map.
Conclusion
His aim now is to get promoted to the first team at Juventus.
Considering how long other talented players from the club’s academy have had to wait, that’s unlikely to be the case this season.
However, given Juventus’ efforts and the clubs the Italians had to surpass to sign Yildiz, they are convinced they have landed a player who can make a difference at the highest level in the not-too-distant future.
Adidas surely believed that in 2015 as well.
Now, the rest of the world will soon learn why they went into so much trouble to tie Kenan Yildiz to their brand.
