One year ago, Cenk Özkacar was bought by Valencia for €5 million from Lyon after a loan spell at the club in which he played 17 games in the league. Now, the 23-year-old is heading to Real Valladolid on loan to replace Flavien Enzo Boyomo, with Valencia academy graduates Cristhian Mosquera, Yarek Gasiorowski, and César Tárrega currently ahead of him in the pecking order. In this article, we will investigate Cenk Özkacar and what he can offer Valladolid.

Name: Cenk Özkacar

Position: Center Back/Left Back

Country: Turkey

Age: 23

Height: 190cm

Preferred Foot: Left

Last Club: Valencia

Cenk began his career in Altay (Turkey) and in 2018 was sent on loan to Bursa Niluferspor, then stayed one more year and was signed by Lyon for €1.5 million. In France, he stayed one year before joining OH Leuven on loan in Belgium, and the next season he went on loan to Valencia which then became permanent for €5 million.

Forward Passing

Forward passes are crucial for center-backs as they are the ones who have to initiate the play.

Here, we can see that Cenk is the player with the least amount of forward passes with a low precision which tells us that this is not one of his strengths and that he is not the most comfortable player on the ball. This is something that Cenk will have to improve if he is to be important as Pezzollano, the Valladolid manager, likes to have possession and the center backs are key to maintain the ball.

Progressive Passing

This passing metric gives us more depth into the danger of each player’s passing rather than just passing the ball forward 5m. This is because this metric only includes more specific passes such as a pass 10m closer to the opposition goal if the pass comes from the opposition side of the pitch.

In this image, we can observe that Cenk is the player with the least precision and the second-least progressive passes which tells us that he lacks the ability to play dangerous passes. This is one of his weaknesses and shows that he is not a reliable player to progress the ball with worse data than that of Valladolid’s players.

Passing

How many passes a center-back makes tells us how involved he is in possession and if he is comfortable on the ball.

This image tells us that Cenk is not a player that is involved in the play very often with the least amount of passes per 90. However, this may be affected by the playing style at Valencia as they are not a team known for having possession of the ball, which means that Cenk has fewer opportunities to be on the ball.

Defensive Duels

Dominating defensive duels is essential for any defender, as their fundamental purpose is to defend his goal, and for that, winning duels is key.

Thanks to this image, we can say that Cenk does not dominate his defensive duels with the least number of duels per 90 and the lowest success rate. This is something that he will have to improve as Valladolid’s current center-backs are better in this aspect.

Aerial Duels

Aerial duels are essential for any defender who wants to succeed and even more, for those who press high and recover the ball up the pitch, as the opposing team will look to play long, and for that, aerial duels are required.

With this image, we can identify that Cenk’s ability in the air is quite poor with the second-fewest aerial duels per 90 and the second-lowest success rate. This is quite important as Valladolid will suffer aerial duels in La Liga if they are to press the opposition when the opposing goalkeeper kicks the ball long. 

This chart compares Cenk Özkacar with the rest of the La Liga players in his position using percentiles in different aspects of the game. The percentiles work in the way that whatever the number, he is better than that percentage of players. If it is 70, he is better than 70%.

In this chart, we can see that Cenk is not very important in possession, being in the 44th percentile for passes attempted and touches, though this may be influenced by his previous team’s playing style. Nonetheless, he is only in the 51st percentile for progressive passes and surprisingly is in the 77th percentile for progressive carries. This tells us he has the ability to carry the ball into more advanced areas which can be useful for Valladolid as it is another option in the build-up.

Furthermore, his defensive capacities are quite average apart from clearances where he is in the 77th percentile. Moreover, he is just in the 15th percentile for success rate in aerial duels which is very poor and shows that his defensive and aerial qualities are poor.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Cenk is not a great signing for Valladolid as he is not a reliable player in possession which is crucial for Pezzollano, who likes to have the ball. In addition, his defensive attributes are quite poor and he is far from dominating his aerial duels. Nonetheless, he has two years of experience in La Liga which can be useful as they have an inexperienced squad in Spain’s top-flight, and his data comes from the First Division, whereas Valladolid’s players’ data come from the Second Division. 

By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Stefano Guidi / Getty Images