Leon Bailey is among the wingers with the highest market value in the Bundesliga, scoring five times last season and providing two assists in 29 appearances in the top German division.
The Jamaican joined Bayer Leverkusen in January 2017 from Genk and has since played 84 times.
During the summer transfer window, many media outlets reported that Bayern Munich was interested in signing him as an alternative to Manchester Citys injured Leroy Sané.
However, the Bavarians instead bought the 30-year-old Ivan Perišić and Philippe Coutinho.
Nevertheless, the fact that the current champions of the Bundesliga had Bailey on their list shows what an incredible talent the young winger is.
This tactical analysis, presented in the form of a scout report, will examine Bailey’s abilities and outline the reasons behind his current market value of £36 million.
Leon Bailey Positioning and movements
Bailey’s coach at Leverkusen, Peter Bosz, prefers a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formation, and the Jamaican usually plays as the left-winger.
In some situations, he and the second winger on the right side change positions, but most of the time, Bailey is positioned on the left wing.
Bosz wants his wingers to position wide to stretch the opponent, and due to that, the players in the centre have more space for passing combinations and starting the attacks.
Because of these tactics, the young winger usually positions himself extremely wide and sometimes even on the touchline.
These aspects become visible when you examine Bailey’s heatmap for all competitive matches he played for Leverkusen last season in the Bundesliga, DFB Cup, and Europa League.
However, this wide positioning gave another great advantage during the match.
Sometimes, the opposing full-backs and wingers don’t care that much about Bailey’s wide position and stay more central to keep their team’s compactness alive.
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