Sam Beukema is a 21-year-old centre-back currently playing in the Dutch Eerste Divisie for Go Ahead Eagles.
He is right-footed, has a lean but strong build, and is 6’2” or 188cm tall.
He came through the Go Ahead Eagles academy, although spent time with both DSC Diepenveen and Twente, and made his first-team debut at the beginning of the 2017-18 season at the age of 18.
He has made 36 appearances since, and was a regular in the starting XI last season, and has continued in this vein in the current campaign.
This scout report will analyze Beukema’s abilities and role in Go Ahead’s tactics in depth.
Sam Beukema Data analysis
Before looking at footage of Beukema, we can examine a few key data points from this season to see how he compares to his peers in the Eerste Divisie.
Beukema is relatively tall but isn’t a classic aerially dominant centre-back by any stretch.
Nevertheless, he performs admirably against other centre-backs in his league, ranking well above the average for aerial duels per 90, and slightly above average for aerial duel win percentage.
As for overall defensive duels, he is involved in below the league average, but interestingly he ranks very strongly for defensive duel win percentage with only nine other centre-backs in the league having a higher win percentage.
Beukema’s data suggests he has good positional sense and a good reading of the game to go with this.
Where he ranks for padj interceptions and shots blocked is probably where he is strongest.
We can see in the image below he ranks well above the league average in both metrics, whilst only two centre-backs, Dehninio Muringen of FC Dordrecht and Reda Akmum of Jong FC Utrecht, have a better rating in both categories.
Moving away from looking at Beukema’s defensive statistics, he holds his own in possession too.
Whilst not an outlier, he shows strongly for both his amount of progressive passes per 90 and accurate progressive pass percentage.
As for his preferred method of passing, it became clear to see that Beukema isn’t shy of making long passes and there aren’t many centre-backs in the league attempting more, whilst his completion on this type of pass is average when measured against his peers.
Passing game
To begin the tactical analysis section where we identify his tendencies as a player by looking at his game footage, we will start where we left off by looking at his passing.
Beukema is an accomplished ball-player who is confident in possession.
He frequently looks for diagonal passes, and he is very accurate with this type of pass, often switching the ball to the left flank, when afforded any space close to the half-way line.
As we can see in the image above, he will take this option on despite there being easier passes on, but he can strike this with such precision that it has the potential to catch a particularly narrow defence off guard or, at the very least, force the defence to quickly switch across as a unit, potentially leaving space between them.
Beukema is confident driving forward on the ball well inside the opposition half.
While he may still choose to hit the cross-field ball from this area, as we can see with the red arrow in the image below, he is good under pressure and can hit closer, line-breaking passes.
We can see how he sees his forward dropping deep to receive and obliges with a pass inside.
Beukema generally plays pretty quickly in possession, making his decisions in little time.
He has the technique and game-reading to make him an effective participant in build-up play.
Beukema is a positive ball player. As soon as he receives possession, he will be aware of whether he can break the lines.
He often drifts wide into the half-space in possession where he can take advantage of the angle afforded by this position to hit passes immediately into the front line when he receives the ball.
In possession
Beukema is predominantly right-footed and, as such, operates on the right side of the defence.
During build-up, he pushes high as Go Ahead advances the ball and continues to play an active part in their in-possession phase right up until the ball is in the final third.
With his poise on the ball and passing range, Beukema has the potential to be a centre-back who can dictate play more consistently from the back, potentially at the heart of a back three.
For now, Go Ahead would like to drop a pivot in between their centre-backs and have them split wider.
Beukema will at times push all the way out onto his right flank, particularly when facing a high press. In doing so, his right back can push up further, while the pivot dropping into the centre will dictate possession.
The image below shows this, but it also shows Beukema’s press-resistance in action.
Despite being fond of a longer pass, he isn’t the type of player to hurry the ball up the field in a panic. Instead, he will continue to look to keep possession and find a pass, whatever the circumstance.
His confidence on the ball can mean he has the potential to play himself into trouble, and this is an area he must work on if he’s going to be a ball-dominant centre-back going forward.
Below we can see how, despite being pressed intensely by two opponents, he has the ability and calmness to cut inside, wrong-footing his closest opponent.
However, he underplays a dangerous lateral pass against this press, and as such gives the ball away in a poor position.
Ironically, it would have been far better to have played a diagonal ball to the opposite flank in this circumstance.
Defensive ability
Beukema is a terrific defensive talent.
He has an outstanding reading of the game and an overall ability to dispossess opponents in defensive duels.
He is quick to react and stays close to his marker, rarely allowing them space to turn in possession no matter how far they drop into their own half to receive the ball.
Of course, this can be a risky tactic, particularly against skilful or pacy forwards.
While he gets away with this frequently at Eerste Divisie level, he may need to be slightly more conservative in this area, the higher he plays, and pass opponents on to his midfield in situations such as this.
Admittedly, otherwise, he is actually very disciplined defensively, and excels in 1v1 duels or even when overloaded against.
Beukema is reluctant to dive in in these situations and always shows his opponent away from goal while waiting for the right moment to intercept possession.
In the image below, we can see how he doesn’t get too close to the forward initially, inviting them to attempt to shift the ball past him, but inadvertently pushes the ball to a slightly more difficult finishing angle.
As the forward does this, Beukema closes the gap quickly and times his last-ditch tackle to perfection.
This theme repeats itself too often in his defending for it to be sheer luck. Beukema has the ability to consistently make successful last-ditch tackles.
Beukema delays opponents well, always fully aware of the space behind him that could be exploited, so he doesn’t get pulled into attempting to make an early tackle to dispossess the opponent.
Instead, Beukema waits for the right moment to make a challenge, and should he not make the block or interception, his ability to delay the opponent allows reinforcements to drop in and support behind him.
Beukema is quick too, both in a straight line and on the turn, and recovers well if he or his teammates are beaten with a ball over the top, by a quick forward, or through an individual error.
Again, in these scenarios, his ability to time his tackles and actually make these last ditch efforts is what sets him apart, and what doesn’t show in the data.
Conclusion
Beukema has plenty of ability already.
However, with his clear defensive prowess and potential to continue growing as a ball-playing centre-back, he has a high ceiling.
Whilst he will likely be left to develop at Go Ahead for another season, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him picked up by a side in Europe’s top five leagues in January, or certainly in the summer.
He would be a stylistic fit for the Premier League and Bundesliga, possibly Ligue 1, too. The likes of PSV, Ajax, and AZ will no doubt be monitoring his situation, too.
