After Sheraldo Becker scored 11 goals and got 7 assists in the Bundesliga with Union Berlin qualifying for the Champions League, Real Sociedad came in January to sign the forward for just €3 million. Since joining, he has had a lot of protagonism participating in 8 of 9 matches so far this season, and last season ended up playing in 15 matches in the league, getting 2 assists and scoring 2 goals. In this article, we will be investigating Sheraldo Becker and how he has performed so far this season.

Name: Sheraldo Becker

Position: Left Winger/Center Forward/Right Winger

Country: Suriname

Age: 29

Height: 180cm

Preferred Foot: Right

Becker began his career at Ajax having been born in Amsterdam and passed through their ranks until he reached the first team where he spent one year before joining PEC Zwolle on an 18-month loan. After his loan, he left Ajax and joined ADO Den Haag for €200k. 3 years later, he joined Union Berlin on a free transfer where he remained for 4 years and a half before moving to Spain.

Goals + Assists

How many goals and assists a player has shows how decisive he is and this for wingers is key as they are offensive players counted upon to have high figures in these aspects.

Here, we can see that Becker is a winger who likes to get involved in the box and have goal-scoring opportunities, being above the average. Nonetheless, despite this, he has not scored any goals so far this season but with his xG totaling up to almost 0.2 per 90, he will most likely start scoring. 

In this image, we can observe that generating opportunities is not one of Becker’s strong spots with a mere 0.05 xA/90 which shows that he is a player who is at the end of the passes rather than the one giving them. Because of this, he is also able to play as a center forward because his xG is high for a winger, meanwhile, his xA is quite low.

Crossing

Crosses are a fundamental part of how a winger plays and can also tell us the profile of the winger. If he attempts many crosses that means he likes to stay on the wing, and vice versa, if he doesn’t attempt many crosses that means he likes to play more central and in between the lines.

Despite his poor xA, we can observe that Becker is the winger with the most crosses with almost 6 per 90. However, his poor precision may be a factor in his xA being so low in spite of his large number of crosses. Nonetheless, this tells us that he does participate like a traditional winger with many crosses, however, he is not as effective.

Becker has a very poor crossing ability and does not have the technique to put dangerous crosses in the box despite his insisting on these types of actions. He ranks highly in this metric because we can often see him against teams that sit back and therefore he tries many crosses though these rarely find a player, even though the previous metrics suggest the opposite.

However, he is effective when playing cutbacks as he is very quick and able to get to the goal line with ease.

Dribbling

Dribbling is usually one of the standout traits of wingers as the ability to dribble past opponents in 1vs1 situations can be very helpful for the team, and they are usually in situations to make this happen.

This image tells us that Becker is in fact a player who likes to dribble with more than 5 dribbles per 90 with a success rate of almost 75% which shows his sensational ability to get past his marker. 

Becker is a very quick player, something which he makes use of in 1vs1 situations when he has space, however, when the environment differs he usually plays backwards. Nonetheless, we can often see him get past his full-back and he can be deadly on the counterattack.

Intelligence

His decision-making proves his experience as he minimizes his risks. For example, with his back to goal, he does not try to turn around or if he sees that they are outnumbered he usually plays back which is the smart move to avoid counterattacks. However, he does try to make the most of the chances he does have when he is in 1vs1 or 2vs2 situations. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, Becker is a winger who is intelligent, fast, and very capable in 1vs1 situations, nonetheless, his efficacy is something he lacks significantly. If he were placed in a side that looks to play on the counterattack, he would be a huge asset thanks to his pace, nonetheless, in situations where he lacks this he is easy to defend as although he will win his 1vs1 actions, his output after that is quite poor.

This is something that takes a big toll on him as if his crosses were able to find a teammate more often he would be an incredible and decisive forward. This also affects very much his output in goals and assists which is something that does not prove his season in Germany where he scored 11 goals and got 7 assists.

By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga

Featured Image: @Juanffrann – Martin Rose / Getty Images