How Benjamin Henrichs will fit in at RB Leipzig 2019/20 – scout report

Benjamin Henrichs rose through the ranks at Bayer Leverkusen with much hype as a future star at right-back. The 23-year-old had a breakout campaign for the club in the Bundesliga in 2016/17 and followed that with another solid season, which prompted AS Monaco to part with £18m in the summer of 2018. His time in France has been difficult, to say the least after starting in the 2018/19 season under Leonardo Jardim before being dropped half-way throughout the season. In the current campaign, a foot injury at the beginning of the season cost of him game time. The arrival of Robert Moreno helped Henrichs as he was inserted back in the line-up for the rest of the shortened season.

Throughout these times, RB Leipzig have always had an eye on Henrichs and had two approaches for him turned down before they were able to secure a one year loan with an option to buy for around £15m. This tactical analysis will have a scout report on Henrichs and will also look at his role at Monaco before discussing how Julian Nagelsmann could deploy the German international at Leipzig.

Defence

Henrichs is a very versatile player and can play in all positions in the backline as well as in central midfield so he needs to be good defensively. His physical profile is quite good already and he still has some years to get into his prime. The right-back is just over 6’0, which is taller than most players in that position but it does allow him to play in a variety of positions. He does only weigh 70kg, which explains his relatively slim frame. The somewhat lack of weight for that height can be a negative sometimes before he can get outmuscled in some scenarios. This does also happen because Henrichs still has to improve on how to use his body to shield or block players off the ball. It can be a positive though since it does allow him to be quite agile at his height. His height does make have some downsides too as he is quite heavy on the feet for a full-back and is usually how he picks up his 1.07 fouls per game as well as how he gets beaten in 1vs1 scenario. His height also affects his speed and while he is not slow, against explosive wingers like Kylian Mbappé, he can be exposed in isolation against players of his speed. However, he can still hold his own and most players don’t possess the speed of Mbappé anyways.

Henrichs can use his length to make his patterned challenge, the lunging or slide tackle. His long legs become a huge asset to close down space in a 1vs1 scenario that most full-backs do not have. This example against Paris Saint-Germain shows this well. Here, he is coming up against Neymar who is one of the best players in the world and is a dribbling extraordinaire.

The first image shows Neymar has a slightly too large touch but the ball should still be comfortably in his possession. However, Henrichs is able to close the distance between himself and the ball in just a lunge. The German recognises that Neymar is about to try and pass him on his right so has shaped his body and tackle to stop this from happening, which the second image shows.