Last summer, Manchester United academy graduate Angel Gomes walked away from the EPL giants “to pursue a different path” for his career.
He joined current Ligue 1 leaders Lille as a free agent before being sent on loan to Portuguese top-flight relegation-battlers Boavista for the 2020/21 campaign.
While Boavista hasn’t enjoyed a successful season, Gomes has been one of the few bright sparks of their campaign.
The 20-year-old Englishman directly contributed to 12 of Os Axadrezados’ 36 Primeira Liga goals, scoring six and assisting six.
This is the most goal contributions any under-21 player has made in Portugal’s top-flight this season.
This is especially impressive when you consider he’s playing for a side currently sitting third-from-bottom.
Boavista manager Jesualdo Ferreira a one-time public rival of the soon-to-be new manager of Serie A side Roma, José Mourinho, spoke in glowing terms about Gomes’ contributions to his side’s survival charge earlier this year, saying of the Lille loanee: “He is a decisive player.”
This tactical analysis, in the form of a scout report, analyses Gomes’ evolution from free agent to star player for Lille’s satellite club Boavista during the 2020/21 campaign.
We’ll analyse the 20-year-old’s role within Ferreira’s tactics, while our scout report also highlights some key strengths and weaknesses of his game for Lille fans to know before his impending return to Ligue 1.
Angel Gomes Spatial awareness
Firstly, we’ll analyse one of Gomes’ biggest strengths his spatial awareness.
Gomes has primarily played as a ‘number 10’ this season.
However, he’s also played some games as a left-winger, which sees him cut into the half-space onto his stronger right foot, and some games as a centre-forward often in a two-man pairing that sees him drop off into deeper areas a lot.
One overarching theme that remains consistent with these roles is that when Boavista are attacking, Gomes tends to be situated in the ‘10’ position or the half-space.
This is sensible because he’s excellent at finding space just outside the penalty area, diligent about scanning his surroundings, and good at separating himself from opposition markers.
In Figure 1, we see an example of Gomes’ scanning.
In this particular game, he was deployed in the left-sided centre-forward position, and just before this image, Boavista played the ball to the left wing.
As the ball re
