Santiago Giménez Scout Report 2024/2025: What He Brings To AC Milan From Feyenoord

Santiago Giménez is set to join AC Milan, coming from Feyenoord, at the moment of writing this article, with the transfer deal confirmed by numerous trusted sources.

This move will pave the way for Álvaro Morata’s departure to the Turkish side Galatasaray, as Giménez will replace the Spanish international with I Rossoneri.

Giménez is a Mexican international who also holds Italian citizenship but has played for the Mexican national team since 2021. 

He was born in Buenos Aires while his father, Christian Giménez, played for Boca Juniors at the time.

This means that Giménez was raised in a footballing environment and in a family that is accustomed to football, fame, and professionalism.

This can be very important for the player as it helps him focus more on football, mature, and gain experience in numerous aspects at an early age.

Giménez is a 23-year-old who has already been putting on consistently solid performances as a striker with Feyenoord and before that with Cruz Azul, where he started his career in 2017.

In fact, Giménez started his senior career in 2017 and helped Cruz Azul win their ninth Liga MX title in 2021 before moving to Feyenoord in June 2022 and signing a four-year contract for the Dutch team.

Giménez was also a key player for Feyenoord in their 2022/23 Eredivisie title journey.

He scored 15 goals in 32 matches to help them win the title at the end of that season.

In the next season, Giménez became a much more dangerous player in the Eredivisie as he succeeded in scoring a hat-trick against Ajax and finished 2023 with 31 goals, setting a record for the number of goals scored in the Eredivisie in a calendar year.

In 2024, he helped Feyenoord win their fourteenth KNVB Cup title with a crucial assist in the final.

This confirms that Giménez is not only a goalscorer but can also be a reliable assist maker in key moments.

Overall, Giménez’s progress in goalscoring and playmaking was very noticeable at Feyenoord despite the difficulty of the Eredivisie.

Lately, he has also been capable of scoring goals against world-class teams like Bayern Munich, Manchester City, and Lazio in the UEFA Champions League, confirming that he has the personality needed to show up on big occasions and leave his mark even against the toughest defences in Europe.

It is true that Giménez suffered from numerous injuries in the last couple of years, yet what is positive is that Giménez has usually been able to recover quickly from injuries and was not subject to many long periods on the sidelines during his career.

Milan’s replacement of Álvaro Morata by Giménez can only represent an upgrade for Milan’s attack as the Mexican striker is much younger and has big potential.

In this tactical analysis and scouting report, we will be exploring Giménez’s strengths and weaknesses as a striker and discovering his goalscoring skills and playmaking traits.

The analysis will also compare Giménez to Abraham, as these two strikers are available in Sérgio Conceição’s plans and tactics.

Santiago Giménez Style Of Play

Giménez is known as a striker who does not really rely on aggression inside the box but rather on skills, intelligence in movements and anticipation of his opponent’s actions.

Initially, Giménez was not really useful in terms of headers and was not capable of winning a lot of aerial duels per season.

But with more experience, he learned how to anticipate defenders and position himself well to be first on the ball, and that’s how he became much more useful in this regard.

As a result, his aerial duels win rates have increased compared to previous years, which shows that Giménez has been working on his weaknesses and improving them concretely.

Moreover, he has shown on numerous occasions that he can jump very high, and therefore, AC Milan can work with him further on this aspect to make his headers on goal more crucial and recurrent.

The pizza chart also confirms that Giménez is excellent in terms of goal contributions.

He shoots a lot per match and touches the ball a lot inside the box, which also means that he is not a passive striker.

Giménez has a tendency to drift towards the wings and retreat to midfield whenever possible.

This allows him to link up with teammates in the playmaking phase, win duels, protect the ball and provide passes.

Nevertheless, a lot of work is still needed from Giménez in terms of passing, as his rates have been poor in the first half of the season.

Sérgio Conceição and his staff might need to work individually with him on this aspect to make his passes more recurrent and dangerous.

Giménez has the potential to be much more dangerous in this regard, especially when he gets the ball inside or near the box.

Santiago Giménez Pizza Chart

Santiago Giménez Vs Tammy Abraham

Another important trait that differentiates Giménez from other strikers, including Tammy Abraham, is his ability to carry the ball from various positions and reach the box without losing it.

This is thanks to his excellent body balance, resistance to disturbance, and dribbling skills.

Abra