Marlon Gomes: Vasco da Gama’s 19-year-old Swiss army knife – scout report

The past few years have been truly painful for Vasco da Gama supporters, with the former Copa Libertadores winners spending two consecutive seasons in Brazil’s second division. In the middle of 2022, however, the future began to look bright for O Gigante da Colina. First, 777 partners came forward to purchase the Rio de Janeiro club with the promise of heavy investment. The official acquisition and subsequent investment would take time though, and the Vascaínos were due for another year of suffering in the 2022 season.

The squad was terribly planned, and the club lacked any sort of direction. Vasco went through four managers in the last season, and there was never any sense of structure on or off the pitch. The scenario did not indicate any reasons to expect success. That was, of course, until the academy prospects began to step up.

Far from the ideal setting to transition into professional football, numerous academy prospects were thrown into the senior squad with the responsibility of leading the team. To many people’s surprise, they took care of the job. Vasco’s academy has always produced promising stars, such as former Liverpool and Barcelona player Philippe Coutinho. The class of 2022 was no different.

The star prospect was Brazil U20 captain Andrey Santos, who has now gone to Chelsea for approximately £12M. However, other players also came up and helped the Cruzmaltino find promotion back to the Série A. Among them was Marlon Gomes, another Brazil U20 regular.

The right-footed 19-year-old is an incredibly versatile player with tremendous potential. Under multiple managers and their different tactics, he was asked to play numerous different positions and roles. Nonetheless, he performed extremely well and was one of the most consistent players in the squad, despite being just 18 years old at the time.

In this scout report, we will take a detailed look into Marlon Gomes’ profile, examining why the Vasco da Gama player has such exciting potential. More specifically, through data and tactical analysis, we will explore his strengths and characteristics, aiming to identify why he can be such a versatile player.

Versatility

Before breaking down his playing style, this analysis will explore his flexibility positioning-wise. After being officially promoted to the first team, he made 18 appearances in last year’s Série B. The majority of these were on the right side of the pitch, often as a right-midfielder or a right-winger. Additionally, he was also deployed as a right-back when needed. For Brazil U20, Marlon tends to play as a right-back.

His heatmap in the Série B can be seen below, illustrating his positioning and movement throughout the pitch. As mentioned, it is concentrated on the right wing and right half-space. However, the Brazilian’s activity also bleeds into the midfield and the opposite wing.

Despite performing various roles in 2022, he was developed as a midfielder in the academy. However, simply labelling him as a central midfielder is unfair. Marlon Gomes is naturally a true box-to-box midfielder, excelling at every single phase of the game. He is capable of defending extremely well, in low compact blocks as well as high and aggressive blocks. In possession, both his passing and dribbling are extremely effective. Although he has just turned 19, his profile is already extremely well-rounded.

This complete profile explains why he can be such a flexible player and excel in multiple positions. His heatmap for Vasco’s U20 side provides further insight into his development. In the academy, his movement throughout the pitch was ridiculous; he was quite literally everywhere.