AZ Alkmaar academy product Calvin Stengs (182cm/6’0”, 74kg/163lbs) has been one of the most closely watched and highly-rated young players in the Eredivisie for the last few seasons.
During his time at Alkmaar, the left-footed right-winger/attacking midfielder competed against domestic giants like PSV Eindhoven and Ajax and European greats like Manchester United.
Stengs even reportedly obtained the admiration of one Ronald Koeman, who is said to have expressed his desire to sign the playmaker for Barcelona to the La Liga side’s board and recruitment staff last summer.
However, that move ultimately never transpired.
The 22-year-old is not going to link up with compatriot Koeman at Camp Nou but is instead set to become part of Christophe Galtier’s Nice side, in a project that the 2020/21 Ligue 1-winning manager with Lille described as “colossal” on his unveiling as the new boss at Allianz Riviera.
So, following his €15m transfer this summer, how will the Netherlands U21 star who’s been routinely dubbed a “baller” and “wonderkid” throughout his young career fit into this Nice side?
How might Galtier and Stengs’ new Les Aiglons teammates accommodate him in their quest to improve on their ninth-place finish last term and rise up the Ligue 1 table?
This tactical analysis, in the form of a scout report, will attempt to answer those questions.
We’ll provide some analysis of Galtier’s potential Nice tactics, make some comparisons to relevant players (Rony Lopes Nice’s primary right-winger last season and Luiz Araújo Galtier’s primary right-winger at Lille last season), analyse Stengs’ playing style and look at some of the key strengths and weaknesses in the youngster’s game to give Nice fans a taste of what to expect from their new signing.
Calvin Stengs Passing
What kind of player is Stengs?
To explain in the simplest possible way Stengs is a playmaker who loves to operate in the right half-space, primarily in the final third, but also in the middle third.
He is comfortable receiving the ball out wide on the right-wing before carrying it into the half-space, while he’s also comfortable receiving the ball immediately in the half-space, or centrally, on the half-turn and playing a teammate through on goal, either right away or after carrying it forward to a better position.
Stengs is also comfortable receiving the ball deep as well as more advanced areas.
When receiving the ball deep, he often takes it on the half-turn before carrying it forward and then attempting to play a teammate through on goal.
However, he’s well capable of playing creative, line-breaking passes from deep too and he’s showcased this on occasion thus far in his young career.
Generally speaking, passing is one of Stengs’ strengths he thrives in several ‘passing’ areas.
For example, relative to other wingers and attacking midfielders in last season’s Eredivisie, Stengs made a high number of passes to the penalty area (4.73 per 90) with high accuracy (57.24%), as well as a high number of through passes (3.0 per 90) with a high through pass accuracy percentage (51.09%).
The now-former AZ Alkmaar man also ended last season with the sixth-highest xA (7.33) of any winger/attacking midfielder in the Eredivisie, per Wyscout, highlighting his creative threat.
He’s very much a creative passer who likes to take risks and play the ball forward to break lines as much as possible.
As a result, he opts for risky passes a lot.
He was very involved in all possession phases with Alkmaar and thus, made a relatively high number of passes in general.
While he’s capable of playing simple passes and retaining possession, this just isn’t what you put him in the team to do you put Stengs in the team to flick the switch and turn phases of possession into goalscoring chances.
He is a very effective creator and risk-taker, this is what he’ll offer Nice.
In this section of the analysis, we’ll highlight some of Stengs’ more commonly played passes, starting with the passage of play beginning in figure 1, which will highlight an example of Stengs playing a through pass inside the final third.
In figure 1, we see the playmaker receiving the ball on the right wing, just outside of the final third.
As mentioned, it’s common to see Ste
