Vilde Bøe Risa and Irene Guerrero: Assessing Atlético Madrid and Manchester United’s exchange deal – scout report

Atlético Madrid Women and Manchester United Women recently agreed to exchange Vilde Bøe Risa with Irene Guerrero in a transfer deal that might benefit all parties. The good thing about this double transfer is that both teams are acquiring players in the same position yet with different characteristics and abilities. 

In this tactical analysis and scout report, the analysis will be divided into three parts: one section exploring Bøe Risas traits and how she can fit Atlético Madrids tactics, a second section dealing with Guerreros transfer, studying her abilities and identifying what she can add to the Red Devils, and a final section comparing between the two players and assessing which of the two teams is more likely going to benefit more from this exchange. 

Vilde Bøe Risas traits and possible addition to Atlético Madrid

Bøe Risa is actually 28 years old and had already played for several teams before joining Atlético Madrid, including Arna-Bjørnar, Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC, Sandviken, and Manchester United. Having played for these teams since 2012, she acquired the experience needed to be a solid midfield option for any of the big teams, and choosing to try a new challenge in a different Spanish league represents a motive for Bøe Risa to showcase what she can achieve and how she can upgrade Atlético Madrids performances to help them battle Real Madrid and Barcelona and why not lead them to better UWCL results soon, knowing that the teams best ever result in the competition was reaching the Quarter-finals. 

Bøe Risa is characterised mainly by her intelligent passing abilities and her vision that allows her to break defensive lines in an impressive and direct way. This would help Atlético Madrid a lot during transitions or when building up from the back, as players like Bøe Risa can always be impactful even when they are not physically fit. This action shows a glimpse of Bøe Risas tactical awareness of her surroundings and her ability to break defensive lines with excellent and accurate key passes.

She provided a very intelligent pass into space to her teammate between two opposing players, making the action more dangerous and allowing her teammate to provide an assist or aim for a cross. Delivering the final pass or the pass that paves the way for an assist is one of the skills and duties that Bøe Risa masters and can execute more often at Atlético Madrid.

Moreover, Bøe Risa can be instrumental in terms of first-time passes. Why? Simply because it is always complicated to expect and anticipate such passes, and at times, opponents get surprised and fail to react quickly because they were expecting a different action from the player. And since Bøe Risa often executes these first-time passes accurately, thanks to her ability to scan the pitch and make a decision before receiving the ball, defenders usually cant react and fail to limit the danger of her passes.

This example shows one of Bøe Risas first-time passes and highlights how crucial these passes can be. She spotted her teammates run on the right wing and immediately provided a through pass in her running direction as soon as she received the ball and without controlling it. Such actions also prove that Bøe Risa is a very technical player who can use her passing skills however she wants. Also, not overcomplicating things and playing simply yet intelligently and quickly makes Bøe Risa a unique and influential midfielder.