French forward Élie Youan recently became Lee Johnson’s eighth signing since taking charge of Hibernian this summer.
The former Bristol City manager has been busy overhauling the Easter Road squad following what was a disappointing 2021/22 season for the Edinburgh side.
Johnson has been tasked with rebuilding the Hibs squad this summer after they struggled to an eighth-place finish in the Scottish Premiership last season.
The Hibees have already made several signings under Johnson, with the capture of former Nantes forward Youan in a loan-to-buy deal from Swiss Super League side St Gallen one of their most recent deals.
The dynamic forward, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Belgium side KV Mechelen, had options across Europe but chose Scotland’s capital as his next destination.
In this tactical analysis in the form of a scout report, we will take a closer look at Youan’s playing style, analyse his statistics from his time at St Gallen and his role in the Swiss side’s tactics, to assess what kind of an impact he could have in this season’s Scottish Premiership.
Élie Youan Style Of Play
Youan is a right-footed forward who can play several attacking positions.
His versatility has seen him deployed as either a central striker or on the left wing.
He has also played in a secondary striker/central attacking midfielder role, as he did recently in one of Hibs pre-season fixtures.
In the first half of the last season at St.
Gallen, Youan was used in several positions in their two main formations.
In their 4-3-3, he was mostly played on the left-wing, while in their 4-3-1-2, he was used as one of the two strikers or even in one of the three midfielders on a few occasions.
Pacey and dynamic, Youan is a powerful runner who can help stretch defences and open up space for his teammates to exploit.
At 183cm and 70kg, he has good physical attributes, which, coupled with his speed and movement, make him a big threat in behind.
His heatmap for last season shows the majority of Youan’s touches out in that left-wing area and further back from when he was used as a central midfielder.
Looking at his pizza chart from 2020/21, which uses Wyscout data converted into percentile ranks to compare him with other forwards in the Swiss Super League (min 1,000 minutes played) that season, we can build a more detailed picture of Youan’s profile.
His nu
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