A two-year loan to Borussia Dortmund as done wonders for Achraf Hakimi.
Once a prodigy with an immensely high ceiling, the Moroccan international struggled for playing time with his parent club, Real Madrid, and was shipped out to Die Schwarzgelben.
While the 21-year-old was a strong performer in the 2018/19 campaign, he’s become one of the Bundesliga’s elite players.
His WhoScored ranking sees him tied with fellow Dortmund full-back Raphaël Guerreiro for the 11th highest rating in the league.
With his loan set to expire in the coming months, will we see Hakimi return to Real Madrid or take his talents elsewhere?
In this two-part series, we’ll first provide an analysis of the player, then move to the big picture topic: Hakimi’s fit with Real Madrid.
In this scout report, an analysis of Hakimi’s attacking and defending abilities are the first items on the itinerary.
With an understanding of his skill sets, we will connect his strengths to how he has been utilised at Dortmund through a tactical analysis.
Achraf Hakimi Attacking ability
As you watch Hakimi in action, one thing you’ll gradually notice is that he’s not the most active dribbler.
Among full-backs contracted to teams in the UEFA’s top five leagues, Hakimi ranks 219th in 1v1 success with 53.44%.
In total, he only wins 46.37% of his attacking duels, leaving him 198th at his position among the top five leagues.
It’s common to see him turn down the dribble and play backward rather than engage 1v1.
Dissecting his dribbling attempts reveals that he maintains a relatively upright stance, which negatively impacts his quickness and hinders his ability to beat defenders consistently.
So how does he beat teams? After all, he does have nine assists this season, leaving him second to Trent Alexander-Arnold among full-backs.
Hakimi tends to get past his opponents by working off his teammates and using clever movements off the ball.
We’ll touch on the latter point in more detail later in the analysis.
Returning to the first point, it’s worth noting that Hakimi is very active in the short passing game.
He makes just over 65 passes per game and completes 84% of them.
Watch the right-footer play and you’ll see that he’s very comfortable playing the right pass at the right time.
His ability to pin defenders and provide quality passes to his teammates is a real strength, allowing both players to consistently experience high levels of success.
The young Moroccan is an excellent distributor in short and intermediate situations, but his 55% long pass and 30% crossing accuracy need improvement.
Again, an in-depth analysis of his fit at Real Madrid is forthcoming, but Hakimi must acknowledge that crosses are an important part of Los Blancos playing style and an area in which he must improve if he hopes to unseat either of the incumbents.
In February’s Bundesliga win against Werder Bremen, Hakimi showcased his ability to attack from both wide and central areas of the pitch.
Here we see him claim the ball in a central area, pass to Erling Braut Håland and continue his run between the defence.
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