Jeremy Ngakia 2019/20 – scout report

After a relatively short discussion between club and player regarding a new contract, it was made very public knowledge that Jeremy Ngakia was to leave West Ham this summer. Since June 30 he has been free to talk with other clubs. The main names to be linked with his signature have been Schalke, RB Leipzig, both of the Bundesliga, as well as Watford and Liverpool. All this after making just five appearances for West Ham, but so convincing was his debut season in the Premier League that, understandably so, the demand for a young, English talent with no transfer fee attached, is a rather attractive prospect for many clubs.

This transfer isn’t without its risks. Free agents naturally demand a higher wage and sign-on fee than would be expected for a player with a contract at another club. Therefore, a player with such limited first-team appearances is going to be on a much higher wage than he would be otherwise. He was good in the five games he played for West Ham  not outstanding, but certainly good, and it was a pleasant surprise for the Hammers who had only given Ngakia a 12-month extension on his deal last summer. Nevertheless, Ngakia hasn’t performed like this over a prolonged period of time, and this is a gamble for the teams looking to bring him in.

Ngakia has played just 468 minutes of Premier League football and so we must take any of his statistics, whether good or not so much, with a pinch of salt because this is such a small sample size compared to the rest of the league’s right-backs. This is the equivalent of signing someone who had a good world cup tournament. You are looking at bringing in a player who has played a handful of games. So is Ngakia going to be an El-Hadji Diouf, or a Gilberto Silva…

This scout report and tactical analysis will give an analysis of Ngakia’s role at right-back and will give an insight into his tendencies, areas for improvement, and the tactics of a team where he may suit best.

Overview

A glimpse at Ngakia’s heat map, and we can see the kind of right-back that he is. The majority of the action is deep inside his own half with him rarely venturing north of the halfway line. Admittedly, a lot of this may well be down to the fact that he played as part of a West Ham defence that was pretty regularly under pressure, but nevertheless, you’d generally expect to see a more even spread between action in his own half and the opposition half with a more attacking right-back.

But this isn’t Ngakia’s game. He is a defensive full-back, and he’s proven to have excellent defensive statistics in his short career so far.

Defensive output

The most glaring outlier in Ngakia’s game is his phenomenal defensive duel record for West Ham this season. Involved in a vast amount of defensive duels per game with 10.96, he has an overall win percentage of 73.7% which is truly outstanding for any player at any age, let alone a 19-year-old new to the league. If we compare him to the rest of the right-backs under the age of 23 plying their trade in Europe’s top five leagues, we can see what an outlier he is.