Matías Soulé: The Heir to Ángel di María’s Throne?
Name: Matías Soulé
Club: Frosinone (Loan from Juventus)
Nationality: Argentina
Position(s): RW, AM, SS
Preferred Foot: Left
Height: 5’9”/176cm
Age: 20
Strengths: game intelligence, vision, spatial awareness, take-ons, creativity, work-rate
Areas for Development: speed, weak-foot usage
With Lionel Messi approaching 37 years of age and Ángel Di María (35) set to retire from international football after this summer’s Copa América, it’s clear that Argentina are in need of a fresh, young playmaker in attack. The answer might just be Matías Soulé, a free-flowing right winger who has been unleashed on loan at newly promoted Frosinone.
Born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Soulé left for Italy in January 2020 after a five-year spell at Vélez Sarsfield, working his way up from the academy and making 21 appearances for Juventus’ first team under Max Allegri before heading out on loan to Frosinone last summer, where he has flourished and established himself as one of the brightest young prospects in Serie A.
The future is bright at Juventus:
-Dušan Vlahović (23)
-Kenan Yildiz (18)
-Fabio Miretti (20)
-Andrea Cambiaso (23)
-Samuel Iling-Junior (20)
-Timothy Weah (23)
-Nicolò Fagioli (22)
-Matías Soulé (20)@GCaltabanis on Juve’s youth movement:https://t.co/VbYHzlcJpZ pic.twitter.com/QJIDVPHmBZ
— Breaking The Lines (@BTLvid) January 16, 2024
Soulé loves to come inside to create and thrives in tight pockets in central areas. His vision and spatial awareness enable him to hurt the opposition’s defence by drifting around these spaces and cutting through their defence, and a big part of his great spatial awareness is his scanning. When Soulé carries the ball, he looks up to identify the space around him to invade. However, scanning is only one part of it — it’s the data collection, and what you do with that data that separates the good from the great.
Moreover, he has an excellent delivery in his locker, skilled playing chipped or lofted passes into the box from the right half-spaces, but he also executes accurate through balls whether on the ground or in the air to a high standard. On the surface, Soulé only has 1 assist this season. But assists aren’t the best indicator of a player’s creativity and often fail to recognize a lack of finishing ability from teammates — Soulé has the most expected assists (3.16), the most expected goals (6.46), and the most goals (8) in Frosinone’s squad.
He isn’t the quickest over long distances, but he does have good acceleration and is skilled at changing direction rapidly. Soulé drops his shoulder and reduces his stride length effectively to change direction. An unpredictable player in 1v1 situations, he’s a two-way dribbler who keeps the opponent guessing. His in-game intelligence allows him to stay one step ahead of the opposing player and find their weak spot, capable of rapidly processing information and putting that to good use.
Soulé plays with flair and a level of confidence that’s visually captivating. The Argentine has an inevitability about him – he always is looking to make something happen, and when he has the ball in certain areas, he will all but certainly create danger, and he boasts the calmness and composure in the final third that could very well see him become a double-digit goal-scorer for Juve’s first team.
He loves to take on players (3.37 successful p90 – top 5%), especially cutting inside onto his left foot to shoot and is a great shooter from distance, boasting an impressive shot volume of 2.39 shots per 90, although he’s very left-side-dominant in terms of his efforts on goal.
As a creator, his numbers are excellent with 2.39 key passes per 90 (87th percentile) and 4.61 shot-creating actions (81st percentile). In fact, in Europe’s top 5 leagues, the only players who have made 20+ successful dribbles and created 20+ chances are Wolves’ Pedro Neto, PSG’s Ousmane Dembélé, Brest’s Romain Del Castillo and Soulé.
Soulé is defensively active for a winger and always shows real fight to win the ball back. He currently has 2.04 tackles (88th percentile), 1.33 tackles won (top 10%) & 6.73 ball recoveries (top 2%), winning the ball back quickly in the final third to help sustain pressure on the opponent and proving that he is the textbook definition of a team player.
His style is also suited to that of an interior player, whether that’s a #8, a #10 or a second striker, but overall, he is a tactically versatile profile who has what it takes to fill multiple roles for his team. He could be a situational no.10 or play as a second striker out of possession or be the right winger hugging the touchline or play as a mezzala. A player of his game intelligence knows what the game needs — he’s a manager’s dream.
Similarly to Bernardo Silva at Manchester City, Soulé is a multifaceted playmaker who is capable of dropping into various positions. At Frosinone, Soulé plays as a right winger in a 4-3-3 variation with the creative freedom to come inside, boasting spatial awareness and the ability to wriggle away from opponents and carve out an acre of space. He’s someone who can lead the press, recover the ball high up the pitch, and play an inch-perfect through ball.
Born in Argentina and of Italian descent, Soulé is eligible to play for either the reigning world champions or the reigning European champions, although he has played for Argentina at the youth level and cites Independiente as his favorite club and Lionel Messi as his favorite player. It remains to be seen whether Soulé makes his senior debut with the Azzurri or the Albiceleste, but one thing’s for sure: if he keeps up his stellar form at the Stadio Benito Stirpe, Max Allegri will have no choice but to consider him in his plans for next season at Juventus.
By: Ben Mattinson / @Ben_Mattinson_
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Marco Luzzani – Getty Images