Lovro Majer made a name for himself in his homeland with Dinamo Zagreb, where he established himself as one of the best players in the league. Like many players who emerge from outside the European mainstream leagues, he faced the question of whether he is good enough for the top five leagues. This is part of a wider debate in football recruitment and how do you assess a player coming from a much weaker league like the 1. HNL. Usually, it results in the player moving to a club outside of Europe’s elite, in this case, Rennes. Majer has answered those questions this season with an excellent season in Ligue 1 with Rennes, a side that has been impressive this season. Majer is now a player who is starting to be rumoured and linked with Europe’s elite with names such as Real Madrid, Liverpool and Inter Milan all being linked with the Croatian midfielder.
This scout report and tactical analysis will take a look into Lovro Majer’s game and assess whether he is ready for the step up into the European elite and identify any areas he may need to improve on to achieve this.
Position
Majer is an attacking midfielder who usually operates as a number 8 but is able to operate as a number 10, due to his attacking quality and the positions he likes to occupy. So far this season Rennes have used numerous formations, and this has led to Majer occupying different positions and roles, which haven’t always suited Majer, which has led to him sometimes spending time on the bench. In recent games, Majer has played on the right of a midfield three, part of a tactical 4-3-3. This seems to be the preferred formation and role for Majer. When in this role Majer likes to drift wider into the right half-spaces, similar to a mezzala. This is reinforced below, showing that the majority of Majers time is spent in the right half-space.
Data
Data can play a significant role in identifying talent in the modern recruitment process. It is also how I often start my scouting process, as it gives you an instant understanding of the players skills and attributes and how they compare to teammates and other players in their league. This is also the first part of this scout report, taking a look at some important metrics and how Majer performs in these metrics.
Firstly, Majer is a creative player whose best work comes in possession. This leads us to start the data analysis by looking at Majer assists per 90 and expected assists per 90 (XA per 90). These are two metrics that Majer performs excellently well in. Majer manages to produce 0.38 assists per 90, which is only bettered by the one and only Lionel Messi. His XA per 90 (a more accurate measure of a player’s chance creating abilities) is 0.25 which is 4th in Ligue 1 this season amongst midfielders.
