Santiago Giménez: Feyenoord’s Mexican Talisman in Attack
Club: Feyenoord
Nationality: Mexico
Position: ST
Preferred Foot: Left
Height: 6’0”/182cm
Age: 23
Strengths: finishing, ball-striking, movement, instincts, heading, physicality
Areas for Development: speed, pressing intensity
So far, it has been a massive exodus at Feyenoord this summer. Mats Wieffer has departed for Brighton for €30 million, where he’ll be linking up with former teammate Yankuba Minteh, who spent the previous season at Feyenoord on loan from Newcastle, whilst Arne Slot has departed the Dutch giants to take charge of Liverpool. The next one to depart Feyenoord for the English top-flight could very well be Santiago Giménez.
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A proper bagsman who’s capable of leading the line and holding up the ball, linking up with attackers, wreaking havoc in transition and displaying instinctive finishing skills. He’s a physical monster who excels in his off-the-ball movement and ability to run the channels, boasting a great whipped finish on his left foot that can curve the ball across goal with plenty of power. He has so much composure in front of goal and a real hunger to score goals.
Giménez’s ball-striking is very impressive, particularly on his left foot, and his technique when receiving the ball at different angles and heights is top quality. Despite a strong, broad frame, Giménez has quick feet in the box and likes to take on players, but in the box, his ball manipulation enables him to quickly shift the ball to create space and gets shots off quickly.
His ability with his back to goal has improved under the tutelage of Slot, with his quick feet and good upper body strength enabling him to hold defenders off and spin around them. A powerful player with a good leap, he can generate a lot of power behind his headers. He’s not a huge striker, but at 6’0” and with good jumping ability, he’s definitely a threat in the air.
Giménez could be better in aerial duels and winning knockdowns from goal-kicks and defensive headers, but he comes alive in the penalty area when it comes to heading as he’ll usually use his smart movement to put him in a better position to win a header. He has a variety of finishes up his sleeve, but his standout trait is definitely his movement. He loves a blindside run in the box to create separation from his marker when least expected.
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The Mexico international is a superb outlet: pair him with a vertical midfielder who’ll look to play the ball over the top and he’ll finish off chances for you. A big part of being a ‘killer’ up top is having good instincts, to be able to quickly (and accurately) finish in the box when the ball falls to you. These strikers are deadly when given space in the box. Giménez has this attribute.
Often when through on goal, Giménez will open up his body to create more space to finish across goal with his stronger left foot. Coming into the box on the right side allows him to do so and finish into the far side. He’s not purely a goal scorer and does get involved with dropping deep combining with players, and he has been able to hone an excellent chemistry with Quinten Timber, similarly to the partnership between Joshua Zirkzee and Lewis Ferguson at Bologna. Whilst the striker drops deep, the attacking midfielder can run off the striker and get shots off.
The big difference with this is that Giménez doesn’t drop as much as Zirkzee and instead makes more runs in behind and stays central. He’s a prolific goal-scorer who also has a good base ability to create for others and pass rather than shoot when teammates are in better positions. On counter attacks, Giménez looks to receive the ball and play a well-weighted pass out wide to the more direct winger outlets as they’re quicker than him, and then he’ll focus on getting into the box for cutbacks/crosses/rebounds.
He typically outperforms his expected goals due to his finishing prowess, but he can still become a more clinical scorer, particularly on his right foot. Giménez’s movement and ball manipulation creates chances for himself, so he’ll get them wherever he goes. This isn’t to say he isn’t a good finisher on his right foot, but he just can’t generate as much power as his stronger left foot.
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Giménez isn’t the quickest striker. At 6’0”, he has enough height to have a presence in the box and still be agile with quick feet, but he also has a broad, heavier frame which limits his top speed. He’s not slow, but he isn’t rapid either. However, one area which Giménez needs to work on is his intensity when pressing. This could just be purely down to tactical instructions, but at times, he doesn’t press intensively.
At 23 years of age, Giménez has already scored a late winner in the Gold Cup Final for Mexico and led Feyenoord to an Eredivisie title and a KNVB Cup. He’s thrived in his first two seasons in Europe, racking up 15 goals in the 2022/23 Eredivisie season before following that up with 23 in 2023/24, and it’s seemingly only a matter of time before he departs Rotterdam and makes the move to a top five league.
By: Ben Mattinson / @Ben_Mattinson_
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Soccrates Images – Getty Images