Lamini Fati Scouting Report: Why Real Madrid Couldn’t Resist Signing The 18-Year-Old Centre-Back

Lamini Fati has joined Real Madrid from Leganés B.

Leganes is home to some of the most promising talents in Tercera RFEF, where Leganés play, with the likes of Iker Bachiller and Diego Lorenzo also on the books.

The goal of investing in a player from the youth categories is a potential promotion to the first team in the long term, as has been seen in the recent rise of Raúl Asencio.

In this scouting report and tactical analysis, we will analyse Lamini Fati’s profile in-depth.

We will explore the specific tactical role Fati has played at Leganés and what he will face when he arrives at Real Madrid “C” or Real Madrid Castilla.

Who Is Lamini Fati?

With a short trajectory in Spanish football, he had been playing at Leganés for years, signing his first professional contract in 2022.

His mother is Angolan, his father is from Guinea Bissau, and he has Spanish nationality.

According to reports in Spain, Real Madrid had been following him for quite some time before finalising this deal. 

Even though he was close to signing with Valencia last summer, Leganés held onto the player until just this week when Los Blancos made their move.

This season at Leganés B under José Sánchez Capdevila, he has been important as the left centre-back in Tercera RFEF, playing 13 matches during the first part of the season and scoring once.

Lamini Fati’s Physical Profile

Fatis physical profile catches the eye.

Not only is he of competitive height at 18 years old, but he is also big in terms of muscle mass, mainly in his lower body.

Although he is not very agile or flexible, his body allows him to be powerful in physical duels and to impose himself aerially.

He stands out in aerial play in both boxes.

Offensively, he has been one of the main threats for Leganés B this season from set-pieces.

Defensively, thanks to his physique, he tends to pin correctly in man-to-man marking configurations and wins many balls as a result.

Lamini Fati’s Tactical Intelligence

Although his physical profile immediately stands out, Fati makes a difference in his tactical awareness.

That is why so many teams have been keeping tabs on the young defender.

Firstly, he understands how to take advantage of his physique.

He is always attentive to his position, with competitive and consistent decision-making off the ball and in different contexts.

In aerial play, this is brilliant.

Defending crosses, he detects the man he needs to mark and overwhelms him.

The distance between him and his mark is pretty much as close as possible.

As Figure 1 shows, he must have good body orientation when defending crosses.

He can maintain an overwhelming man-to-man marking presence while waiting for the potential cross.

Doing severa