Colombian cannonball: The midfielder who pocketed Neymar in line for a huge transfer – Copa America scout report

With Colombia still going strong at this years Copa América, it doesnt surprise to see some of their players impress the most so far. One such player is Zenits Wilmar Barrios, a 27-year-old defensive midfielder currently dominating the tournament and turning heads.

Compared to Tottenham Hotspur’s Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Manchester United’s Fred and Arsenal’s Thomas Partey, Barrios is a player who could soon be making a move to some of Europe’s best.

This tactical analysis will dissect his player profile in the form of a scout report, give you the tactics he thrives in and use analysis to uncover some potential weaknesses as well.

Player overview

Barrios is a 178 cm tall, right-footed defensive midfielder, weighing 74 kg and currently playing for Zenit in the Russian Premier League. He is also a Colombia international and a big part of their squad. The 27-year-old predominantly plays in the no.6 role and enjoys incredible defensive awareness, pace and decent strength for his stature.

Below is a graph that will give us a closer look at his main strengths and weaknesses. Note that all categories are compared to other midfielders in the league and shown in percentiles where the higher the percentile, the better the player’s performance.

Immediately, we can see Barrios is a progressor and a destroyer in one, excelling on the ball and defensively while offering limited offensive output. While he can win offensive duels and largely does so when engaging in them, he will rarely attempt to shoot or find himself in the danger area to register overly impressive expected goals (xG) values.

When it comes to passing and progression, we see he’s highly involved in the build-up phase, finding ways to deploy forward passes and advance play up the pitch, often through long balls. Barrios is, however, not the most creative but can, on occasion, thread a through ball or a key pass.

Defensively, w