As the third football power in South America behind Argentina and Brazil, Uruguay is one of the markets most frequently visited by European clubs to detect young prospects.
Uruguay has produced countless top-flight players, including Luis Suárez, Federico Valverde, Darwin Núñez, Ronald Araújo, and José María Giménez.
Following in their footsteps, Gonzalo Petit of Club Nacional de Football is the next top rising talent currently emerging from the Uruguayan talent production line.
While Argentina and Uruguay may share a similar culture, with accents, barbecue, mate, and a shared Río de la Plata separating them, they also have distinct football identities.
In the Rioplatense school, with “potreros” on one side of the river and “campsites” on the other, football has a more combative tint on the Uruguayan side.
Uruguay continues to produce players with a high technical quotient, talent, aesthetics, and creativity, with a strong inclination toward improvisation and spontaneity as a guiding principle.
And, above all things, to invade spaces and run the field in reverse.
“Running in a straight line is only advisable in races where you have to reach a finish line first.
The goal in football, sought in a straight line, is a severe clash, tumble and loss of the ball.
The depth of football is the detour, never the ‘forward, forward.’
In football, to advance, you have to go backward.”
—Dante Panzeri, 1967.
This football scouting report and player analysis delve into the intricacies of Gonzalo Petit style of play at Nacional, examining what makes the Uruguayan such a promising player.
Listen to this article free on the Total Football Analysis Podcast via Spotify, Apple Podcast, or RSS.
Who Is Gonzalo Petit?
At 1.91m / 79 kg (623 / 174 lbs), with a weight far from that of a high-performance athlete (although this does not impede his football), and only 18 years old, Petit has emerged as a good representative of these ideas.
The Nacional youth striker is in his second year in the Uruguayan Primera División and arrives at the end of the semester, settled in the starting XI of a team that has won the Copa Libertadores three times.
After having worn the number 10 shirt with the Uruguay U20 National Team in the U20 South American Championship at the beginning of the year, the youth player returned to Nacional, determined to be a starter.
His numbers by July are not bad at all, considering the Apertura and Intermedio Tournaments in the Uruguayan Championship have been completed.
Petit accumulated 856 minutes in the tournament, having scored six goals and delivered two assists.
This averages out to a goal contribution (goal or assist) every 107 minutes—not bad.
Gonzalo Petit Style Of Play
It would be very unfair to reduce Gonzalo Petit to goal figures.
He is a striker who extends his game to intermediate zones.
On the contrary, he does not usually pin both centre-backs to guarantee depth.
He soaks up the field with an imperious need to be in constant contact with the ball, drops and roams throughout the midfield, with the sensation of floating along the line of the attacking midfielder.
Despite not having a physical build that allows him to stand up to the tough defenders of the Uruguayan Championship, his football IQ enables him to detect areas to drop into, preventing him from having to enter into ground or aerial duels against his opponents.
Hes a player who avoids the crowd.
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