Paris Saint-Germain is blessed with a huge and highly fruitful catchment area of young talent from which they can essentially pick and choose the elite of the elite at the youth level to place in their academy, develop, and eventually add to their first team.
One player who’s gone through this process is 20-year-old right-footed centre-forward Arnaud Kalimuendo (175cm/5’9”, 63kg/138lbs).
The attacker spent the last couple of seasons on loan at PSG’s fellow Ligue 1 competitors, Lens, ending this past season as the joint-ninth-highest goalscorer in France’s top flight, tied with Strasbourg’s seasoned striker Ludovic Ajorque for that position, having taken and scored one fewer penalty than the 28-year-old.
Kalimuendo has now got just two years remaining on his contract in Paris.
At the same time, he’s said to have attracted interest from EPL sides Leeds United and Nottingham Forest, as well as Serie A giants Inter, among others, this summer.
This tactical analysis and scout report aims to examine why the 20-year-old Parisian is in such high demand at present through an analysis of Arnaud Kalimuendo style of play, key strengths and weaknesses, and his role within Franck Haises Lens tactics that contributed to his exceptional performance this past season.
We aim to highlight precisely what interested clubs need to know about the PSG prospect, both the positive and negative aspects.
Arnaud Kalimuendo Movement
One of the key aspects to observe in any centre-forward game is their off-the-ball movement; how do they like to provide their teammates with options? What kind of runs are common for them? How good are they at finding space for themselves in threatening areas at just the right time?
Kalimuendo frequently demonstrates effective movement in the final third to free himself up and give his teammates an option in dangerous areas.
This played a key part in his 3.6 touches inside the box per 90 last term, per Wyscout — a relatively high number when compared with the rest of Ligue 1’s centre-forwards.
Additionally, this helped Kalimuendo to end up taking a relatively high number of shots (2.52 per 90, according to Wyscout) when compared with the rest of Ligue 1’s centre-forwards for 2021/22; effective movement to generate space in high-value positions isn’t the only thing that helped Kalimuendo in this regard, but it was certainly a key factor.
Before Figure 1, we saw Lens working the ball into a good crossing position on the left wing while Kalimuendo shifted around inside the box to ensure he stayed in space, away from the defenders around him.
Additionally, just before this image, the striker took a couple of extra steps back to give himself space to run forward once the ball is played, anticipating the danger of this particular chance his side was building and the impending through ball on the wing in behind the opposition’s backline.
