Scouting AS Monaco’s academy – data analysis

AS Monaco have been valuing young players more and more in the last years, proof of that is the number of minutes that young players are getting in the team, but also the success players that graduate from their academy have in top-flight football. Monaco’s academy has produced some amazing talents over the years, the likes of Thierry Henry, Thomas Lemar and Kylian Mbappé, to name a few, are some examples of graduates that achieved great things and played or still play in big teams like FC Barcelona, PSG and Atlético Madrid.

In this data analysis we will use data and statistics to find the best talents currently in AS Monacos academy that could potentially take the step up, earn a place in the first-team, and play Ligue 1 football. 

Methodology 

In order to make this analysis we need to establish our data pool . Because AS Monaco II is the only youth team that has data available on Wyscout for the 2019/2020 season, our choice inevitably falls on the players on that team but with some specifications.

AS Monaco II play in National 2 and, because the league is not widely covered, the data available has its limitations. In order to make our analysis, and having those limitations in mind, we will only highlight players who have played at least 450 minutes this season to make our analysis a more realistic one.

After analysing all the players we will compile a shortlist with the best talents.

Defending 

Starting with the defensive statistics, we created a scatter plot that shows us aerial duels won% and defensive duels won% on each axis. The size of the dots was set to display the amount of PAdj interceptions per 90 giving us a view of the most important defensive metrics.

Looking at the upper right quadrant we can see the players that are above average on both metrics displayed on the axes. Chrislain Matsima is the first name that stands out on both metrics. The frenchman wins 79.17% of his defensive duels and 58.06% of his aerial duels, when it comes to PAdj interceptions per 90 he also ranks high with 5.32. Safwan Mbaé ranks third in terms of aerial duels won, and second in terms of defensive duels won, with win rates of 53.33% and 78.18% respectively. In terms of PAdj interceptions per 90 he ranks first in the team with 7.120. The last player above average on both metrics is Jordy Gaspar, however, he moved to Grenoble Foot 38 at the end of the season and, for that reason will not be taken into account. Another player displaying good values are Pierre-Daniel N’Guinda who wins 69.64% of his defensive duels, 33.33% of his aerial duels, and averages 3.52 PAdj interceptions per 90. Lastly, Yannis N’Gakoutou also impresses in his defensive duels win rate (75.27%) and in his PAdj interceptions per 90 number (5.79) but displays a low 29.41% win rate when it comes to aerial duels.

Passing and ball progression 

In this section we will take a look at the best passers in the team, the players that are able to circulate the ball and do it well. We will also take a look at the players that are the best at progressing the ball up the field through passing or carrying.