Mohammed Kudus Scout Report At Ajax 2020/2021 – His Role In The Ajax Midfield

In all of the rumours and narrative surrounding the end of the summer transfer window, it can be argued that the best deal was struck right at the very start of the process, and to relatively little acclaim.

The deal in question saw Dutch giants Ajax acquire the services of the Ghanaian international midfielder Mohammed Kudus from the Danish side Nordsjaelland for a reported fee of €8.1M.

This was one of the rare transfer deals that made sense for all sides.

Nordsjaelland made a significant profit on a player who was developed through the club’s partnership with the Right to Dream Academy and then domestically in Denmark.

Ajax secured a midfield player who may allow them to replace the likes of Frenkie de Jong eventually.

In terms of Kudus himself, the move felt like a perfect next step, allowing him to test himself at a higher level and continue his development.

While all of that made complete sense, there was still a question about Kudus’s role at Ajax.

At Nordsjaelland, he was used as something of a movable chess piece, capable of playing as a striker, on the right of the attack, or even as an ‘8’ with a licence to move forward.

At Ajax, on the other hand, the early signs are that he will play as part of a double pivot at the base of the midfield, in a 4-2-3-1 system.

The purpose of this scout report is to understand Kudus as a player and how he fits into this specific tactical style.

First of all, however, we have to understand his player profile.

Mohammed Kudus Player Profile

Kudus is a 20-year-old Ghanaian midfielder who made his international debut in November 2019.

At the time of writing, he has two caps and one goal for the national team.

He is predominantly a central midfielder and is left-footed.

He is listed at 177cm | 5’9” and has a compact and relatively muscular build.

As mentioned above, he is extremely versatile from a positional point of view, but certain tendencies within his game lead to him taking up similar positions and occupying the same area of the pitch wherever he is asked to play.

If played as a ‘9’ or on the right of the attack, he still tends to drop deeper into central areas where he can receive the ball and dominate possession for his team.

He is an intelligent player who displays an advanced understanding of space and makes movements to occupy or empty space to help his team progress the ball through the thirds.

When receiving the ball, he maintains the correct body shape at all times.

Since he scans constantly, he takes his first touch into space and away from pressure.

This gives the impression that Kudus always has time on the ball as he sets himself away from the opposition player closest to him.

When under pressure, he is press-resistant with the ability to receive and shield the ball.

When the opposition makes contact to try to win the ball back, Kudus uses his balance and strength to move away from the contact, using the player’s momentum to his advantage to move beyond him.

When receiving the ball in deep positions, Kudus is always progressive.

He tends to take the ball and look to break the lines of the opposition as his first priority.

This is achieved either through passing in these areas or carrying the ball himself.

As a further example of the positions that Kudus tends to occupy, we will now examine some of the average position maps for Nordsjælland in the 2019/20 season.

This image is taken from the match between Nordsjaelland and Brondby, in which Kudus was played, at least nominally, as a striker.

He wore the number 10 shirt for Nordsjaelland, and as you can see, his typical position in the match was in central areas but in a deeper position than you would typically expect from a striker.

Instead, Isaac Atanga, on the right of the attack, occupied a much higher position while Kudus dropped deeper in order to dictate the play.

This time, we see Kudus’s average position map from the match between Nordsjaelland and Aab last term.

This time, Kudus was played as a more conventional 10 as the Danish side switched to a 3-4-1-2, with Kudus positioned behind two strikers.

This appears to be a more natural position for the Ghanaian midfielder, and, as you can see, his positioning remains constant in the space behind the front players.

From this position, Kudus can again dictate and control the flow of the game for his team.

Finally, we see an average position map from a match in which Kudus played, apparently, on the right of the attack.

Once again, we see that he clearly prefers playing in more central areas, even when starting out wide.

Next, we will examine how he has been utilised so far by Ajax.

Mohammed Kudus In The Double Pivot

Given football’s economic disparity, Ajax will continually have to sell its best players season after season.

This was the case before the start of this season when Hakim Ziyech left to join Chelsea.

The season before saw the midfield weakened further when the mercurial De Jong left for Barcelona.

These departures opened a space in midfield that Kudus could make his own.

The only question would be in which position would he be deployed.

There was, however, to be a surprise with Zakaria Labyad coming back in from the cold to play as either the forward or the 10 alongside Quincey Promes.

This saw Kudus move deeper to play as one of the two pivots at the base of the midfield structure.

Here, we see the average position map from the match between Ajax and RKC Waalwijk.

Kudus, now wearing 20, was part of the double pivot alongside the Mexican Edson Alvarez.

From this position, we see Kudus continue to display the same tendencies and skill set that he showed whilst at Nordsjælland.

He intelligently positions himself in supporting positions and plays a key role in allowing Ajax to reset the attack and change the angle of play.

This means that when playing against a deep defensive block, they can switch back and around should the opposition close down the angles of attack.

We see an example of this in the image above.

Kudus is positioned behind the play, and as Ajax looks to reset the attack, he is in space to freely receive.

Now, with the opposition collapsed into a deep block, we see the attacking potential that Kudus offers Ajax in these positions.

He has the capacity to pass through the lines, but he is also extremely comfortable when carrying the ball forward into advanced areas.

He does so here and drives forward towards the edge of the penalty area.

This movement forces the opposition to move to engage the ball, thereby creating space elsewhere for his teammates to exploit.

Kudus also displays his tactical discipline and awareness in the defensive phase.

He is intelligent enough to understand when he has to press and engage the man in possession and when to shield the defensive line.

In the image above, we see this clearly as Alvarez is drawn out from the centre of the field to press the ball.

Kudus shifts across to position himself in front of the defensive line.

This is an interesting addition to his game, given the clear tendency that he displayed while playing in Denmark.

By moving Kudus into a far deeper starting position you still get his ability to progress the ball and his creative instincts still come through.

The positions in which he receives the ball though are different.

Kudus is always a presence in progressing the ball from the back.

He moves constantly, looking for angles with which he can support the ball.

Above we see a situation in which Kudus receives the ball from his goalkeeper before progressing the ball towards the half way line.

In these two moments, receiving and playing, we see that Kudus has effectively bypassed six opposition players.

By having Kudus as one of the reference players at the base of the midfield, Ajax have a player who can break through the opposition press.

His ability to receive the ball under pressure means that even when pressed, he can safely take possession and move the ball into space.

We see this above as the player in possession is pressed and has to pass back to Kudus in order to relieve pressure.

Kudus is pressed immediately too, but as soon as the opposition player engages, he is able to turn and twist to escape the pressure before driving forward into free space

Even though Kudus plays, in the main, as a deeper midfielder, he still has the potential to move forward in the attacking phase with his intelligence, again evident in the timing of his runs and the spaces he looks to occupy as he steps forward to support the man in possession.

In the image above, we see Ajax looking to build down the left-hand side.

The man who receives the ball is immediately faced by two opposition players.

Kudus’s movement in this area, offering an angle to play through the two defenders, allows Ajax to continue moving the ball forward.

So far this season, we have also seen Kudus display his intelligence and technique in the opposition half of the field.

He is a creative passer with vision and a range of passes that allow him to access all areas of the field.

Above, we see the creativity that Kudus can show when receiving the ball.

As the ball is played into the central area, he is in a position to receive.

There is immediately a defensive player who looks to press the ball from behind.

Kudus flicks the ball first-time around the press and then spins to run into pace in the central area.

Conclusion

Of course, it is still early in the season, and Kudus has been slowly integrated into Ajax’s starting lineup.

That said, though, his minutes in the first team so far have left club fans clamouring for the Ghanaian to be given a more influential role.

He has impressed with his willingness to receive the ball and his creativity in possession both in terms of passing and when twisting and turning.

It is perhaps the biggest compliment that we can pay a midfield player in that he looks to be made to be the key player in the Ajax midfield.