Jayden Addai: AZ’s Newest Wonderkid
From Teun Koopmeiners to Tijjani Reijnders to Calvin Stengs to Myron Boadu, we’ve seen quite a few players go from developing in AZ Alkmaar’s academy to earning lucrative transfers to Europe’s top five leagues. At 19 years of age, Jayden Osei Addai has what it takes to become the next player to leave North Holland and secure a move to a major club.
Club: AZ Alkmaar
Nationality: Netherlands
Position: RW, LW
Preferred Foot: Left
Height: 5’9”/175cm
Age: 19
Strengths: ball manipulation, IQ, pace, dribbling, vision, shot volume, ball-striking, physicality
Areas for Development: shooting inconsistency, weak foot usage
Born in the Netherlands to Ghanaian parents, Addai joined AZ’s academy in 2016 and quickly rose up the youth ranks, mixing directness, silky dribbling, physicality as well as the footballing IQ of a #10, making him an elusive attacking threat. Addai is an explosive winger packed with dynamism and intelligence, a player who loves to take on players but also can filter intelligent final passes with exquisite flair.
Addai is the type of player that puts supporters on the edge of their seat with his ball manipulation and trickery. The teenage winger has ridiculous control in tight areas, a physically strong player who’s capable of riding challenges and keeping the ball close to his body at all times when carrying it. His threat to goal is especially when he’s got the ball in the box as he can manipulate the ball so well.
In these tight areas, Addai will move the ball away from defenders at the very last second. Jayden Addai’s drops of the shoulder are unexpected and helps him get off shots from distance. His shooting comes with varied success, but when he hits it right, he’s unstoppable in these situations. In fact, his first professional goal for Jong AZ Alkmaar vs Willem II came from exactly this scenario to complete AZ’s comeback from 2-0 down to 2-2 in the 91st minute, securing a vital point in the Eerste Divisie.
So often you’ll see him come central and a bit deeper, receive the ball on the half-turn, drive at the defence and shoot from distance. Addai takes on the responsibility to win the game for his team. He isn’t afraid to shoot on his right too and will take on the defender on his outside to strike across goal. Particularly with his dribbling, he’s a very two way dribbler which makes him so unpredictable.
Sometimes, Addai can be a little inconsistent with his shooting. His ball-striking is good when he stays composed in shooting situations. However, his ball manipulation is a huge part of what enables him to get off so many shots in games and have a high shot volume. It’s this type of winger that top teams need to win them big games: one who can score from a half chance or create one himself.
Addai’s final pass is quality too. He’s a transitional monster who often finds himself leading the counter-attack, where he can showcase his awareness and vision to play excellently weighted through balls to those in advantageous positions rather than take it alone. However, if there is one area where he could use some improvement, it’s his weak foot. Whilst he uses his weak foot with regularity, he is far more reliant on cutting inside onto his left foot and could benefit from being more unpredictable with his decision-making.
Moreover, his link-up play with other attackers is special, linking up well with Mexx Meerdink and Ernest Poku in 2022/23 and Ro-Zangelo Daal and Yoël van den Ban in 2023/24. He’s a winger who thrives off interchanging with other attackers, who combines the intelligence and spatial awareness of a #10 with the dynamism and direct running of a winger. Similarly to Bukayo Saka and Mohammed Kudus, he has the physical power and unpredictability to trouble any fullback.
He only turned 19 just three months ago, but he’s already made a name for himself as one of the most promising young wingers in the Netherlands. He was called up to the national team for the first time in March, playing three times for the Netherlands in the UEFA Euro U-19 Championship qualifiers, whilst he’s also played in each of AZ Alkmaar’s last four matches.
Addai scored 17 goals and 2 assists in 16 appearances for AZ’s U17s, 16 goals and 1 assists in 39 appearances for AZ’s U18s, and 16 goals and 7 assists in 43 appearances for AZ’s U21s. However, so far, he hasn’t been able to replicate that at senior level, registering just two goal contributions in his 22 appearances for the first team — he assisted the opener in a 3-2 win vs. Hardenberg in the KNVB Beker in December, before winning a penalty against Elfsborg in the UEFA Europa League in September, which Troy Parrott duly converted to secure a 3-2 win.
Over the past seven years, at least one player has departed AZ Alkmaar each summer for a fee of €10m+. Alireza Jahanbakhsh (€22.5m) and Wout Weghorst (€10.5m) headed for Brighton and Wolfsburg in the summer of 2018, followed by Guus Til’s (€18m) move to Spartak Moscow in 2019 and Oussama Idrissi’s (€12m) move to Sevilla in 2020. The summer of 2021 saw a player exodus with Koopmeiners (€14m), Stengs (€15m) and Boadu (€17m) parting for Atalanta, Nice and Monaco, respectively, whilst Owen Wijndal (€10m) headed for Ajax in 2022.
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Milos Kerkez (€17.87m), Jesper Karlsson (€11.15m) and Reijnders (€20.5m) left AZ for Bournemouth, Bologna, and Milan in 2023, whilst Vangelis Pavlidis (€18m) made the move to Benfica this past summer. Addai may very well have to bide his time waiting in the wings behind the likes of Poku and Ruben van Bommel, but there’s reason to believe that he can play a significant role under Maarten Martens this season. At 19 years of age, Jayden Addai could very well become the latest player to depart the AFAS Stadion for an eight-digit transfer fee.
By: Ben Mattinson / @Ben_Mattinson_
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Juan Manuel Serrano Arce / Getty Images