Player Report — Brais Mendez
This season the 22 year old Spaniard has claimed his starting spot in Cardoso’s Celta Vigo side and won his first cap for Spain. Celta are a team with good recruitment, investing in youth prospects and have a lot of talent in a youthful squad. Mendez however is a youth product and has been at the club since 15.
Celta currently sit 17th in La Liga with a disappointing first half to the season. If relegated they have a lot of young players that could be raided in summer with some good potential deals. Maxi Gomez and Pione Sisto for example are two good talents in their squad. Gomez is already attracting major interest from the biggest clubs.
Attacking the Final Third
Mendez plays on the right of midfield and has directly contributed to 9 of Celta’s 30 non-penalty goals, and he won the one penalty they have scored this season. He creates an impressive 0.42 xG+A per ninety minutes.
Watching Mendez you can see his positive, progressive mindset. He is an intelligent player with good movement. In Celta’s team he is given freedom to roam. He positions himself well and is good at picking up loose balls in the final third not being restricted by staying in position. He plays pretty centrally, often situating himself in the right half space while his full back, Hugo Mallo, provides width.
When Mallo is in possession he wants to give him options. He often positions himself between the opposition’s centre half and full back. When the full back presses Mallo, Mendez will look to move into that space. The winger also likes to drop a bit deeper to contribute to build up while the right back pushes forward. This allows Mendez to control the game a little and link up with Mallo on the wing and get into dangerous positions.
These undercutting runs draw defenders, spreading the back lack and creating space in midfield, giving Mallo passing options centrally if he chooses not to put Mendez in behind.
The narrow, inside forward role allows him to get into dangerous positions to attack the goal and create. Here you can see that he is up there with the best young players in terms of shots and shot creation.
He makes good supporting runs and also times his runs into the box well taking advantage of his good long shot ability.
He contributes 0.42 expected goals per ninety, which is 33% of what Celta Vigo create per match. An impressive contribution from a young player.
Mendez has a good first touch and close control, allowing more difficult passes and good ball retention. He isn’t a great 1v1 dribbler, completing 1.1 dribbles per 90 (46% success), preferring to look for passes and linking up with team mates.
Out of Possession
The Spaniard is hard working and covers a lot of ground due to his free roaming role. He is effective at collecting loose balls and makes a really impressive 2.7 tackles per 90. He works hard out of possession in both his attacking and defensive third.
You can see here that he ranks 8th in the top five leagues for pressure regains and 4th for young players. Showing his impressive work rate and effectiveness in a pressing system, an increasingly important trait in attacking players which makes Mendez a very attractive prospect for some of the biggest teams. His reading of the game allows him to position himself well and press intensely.
Conclusion
Celta Vigo are 2 points above the relegation zone. Whether they make the drop or not Mendez is an impressive prospect that I don’t see staying in Vigo for much longer. He’s a hard working winger with high goal contribution output and effective pressing aged just 22.
With a €25m release clause which looks very appealing. Leicester have already shown interest for example. He’s someone that I think we’ll see Spurs, Chelsea and possibly Dortmund, among others, looking at in summer.
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