Player Profile #02: Bradley Barcola
At only 20 years old, the ceiling is high for Lyon’s Bradley Barcola. Having made a rapid rise over the past 2 years, from playing only 257 minutes in the 21/22 league season to playing in 26 games and recording 13g/a in the 22/23 league season, he has recently notched up 4 g/a in 4 games at the U21 Euros. This type of quality isn’t a fluke. Such an exceptional first full season playing at the top level is indicative of a player with a big future. In this player profile I will outline how I see him as a player and in what areas I think he excels and in what areas where, if he improves, means he will undoubtedly become a household name.
The extent to just how good his first full season in professional football has been is visualised in the graph below.
When assists and second assists per 90 are shown for all wingers across Europe’s top 7 leagues, Barcola stands out. Only Neymar and Alassane Plea of Gladbach assisted more per 90 minutes. Getting your name amongst the likes of Neymar, Messi, Salah and Mane for being an outlier as a result of your attacking ability isn’t too bad for a 20 year old.
The stats below from the 22/23 league season also demonstrate the level he is already playing at and the parts of the game in which he thrives.
The first thing to note is his attacking efficiency. Outperforming both his xG and his xA by some margin, he is returning excellent attacking numbers. 0.81 g/a a game is a figure that many top offensive players would be happy with.
The Frenchman is excellent at timing his runs and receiving progressive passes in the final phase of an attacking move. Making clever attacking movement around the box before working a chance which can be converted by a teammate, he is already displaying elite attacking instinct. The stills below give examples of this. The images show his simple, yet highly effective, running in behind from either flank, both times resulting in a goal.
On top of this, he has shown he can also do it against big opponents: his finishing instinct on show in the image below, reacting quicker than Hakimi to score the only goal of the game against PSG.
Despite all of this, it has to be said that whilst he is amongst the best in being the provider, the other elements in his creative, attacking play could be improved. As is shown in the first graphic above, his second assist tally leaves something to be desired. Whilst being very efficient at receiving progressive passes and using them to assist others, at a big club he would have to excel in creating these opportunities for others too, something which he doesn’t do often at the moment.
His general passing game could also do with quite a bit of improvement. A player with so much flair and ability to take on players, when it comes to playing the pass, he can let himself down. Being in the bottom quarter percentile for % of passes completed needs to improve if he wants to develop his overall game.
Back to his strengths, Barcola’s defensive awareness has to be appreciated. He is exceptional at reading play and disrupting defences, often winning the ball back to create very dangerous turnovers in the attacking third. Despite being a player who doesn’t make an awful number of touches or passes, suggesting he doesn’t involve himself in games too much, he pulls his weight off the ball and out of possession, as well as being effective when he does indeed have the ball.
An example of this can be found in the U21 Euros game against Switzerland where he intercepts a ball being played out from the back and ends up scoring from the attack generated.
Finally, as already mentioned briefly, the Lyonnaise player is very comfortable playing on either flank and will often switch wing mid-game. The heat map below is from across the 22/23 season and demonstrates his ability and desire to run into the box, whatever position he is playing.
Ultimately, in and around the box Barcola is a terrifying player for any defence to come up against. If he can improve the other elements to his game, he could find himself playing at the highest level for many, many years. Still a raw prospect, I would say that Barcola is still a season or two away from reaching an elite level where he would be ready to join a top club and be performing week in, week out. But if he keeps on putting in performances like he has this season, then there is little doubt that he could become a very, very good player.
Stats from: Fotmob, DataMB, FBref, Sofascore
