Oliver Torres: Scout Report

Styles, Strengths and Weaknesses

If I were to compare Oliver Torres to a certain player, it would, without a doubt, be Juventus maestro Andrea Pirlo. Similar to his Italian counterpart, Oliver is blessed with exceptional vision and possesses an impeccable range of pass. Both being predominantly deployed at central midfield, they both boast of a similar style of play, always keeping themselves available, retaining possession when required with simple, well-placed 4-6 yard passes. The 18 year-old is also capable of 20, 30, even 40 yard long balls with pin-point accuracy, more often than not finding his teammates with ease.

One of his most remarkable attributes would be his first-touch and positional awareness in a game. As I mentioned before, he always keeps himself available; sounds like something your run-of-the-mill midfield enforcer pulls off with minimal effort, doesn’t it? I assure you, it isn’t. It requires a great deal of intelligence and vision, qualities of which Oliver possesses in abundance. He uses the pitch effectively and efficiently, making himself available to receive a pass from a teammate in a position where it can be pulled off with the least difficulty, effectively playing the team out of trouble. On the other hand, when he is faced with tight-marking and or pressure from the opposing player, he takes his first-touch carefully, intelligently and efficiently, taking the ball away from the opposition and spreading the ball, setting the team off.

Perhaps dissimilar to Pirlo, Oliver also boasts off a good turn of pace, showing a large amount of pace when running at the opposition. His pace, coupled with his quick feet and touch of trickery, makes him a very potent threat with the ball, showing all these qualities when attacking gaps in midfield or defence should an opportunity arise.

Of course, he has his weaknesses too. His defensive work-rate is, simply put, poor. On several occasions, I’ve noticed that he fails to track his man and fortunately for him, this has not to my knowledge led to any goals conceded. With Spain’s expansive brand of football, where absolute dominance of possession is integral, a great deal of pressing and hassling of the opposition is vital; it is a team effort all round, where every player is required to push the opposing team back and regain possession of the ball.

Oliver has to add to this aspect of his game should he want to break into the Spain and Atlético teams alike in future, who employ a similar style of play.

Should he overcome these drawbacks, I’ve little doubt that he’ll become one of the best midfielders in Spain in future.

Transfer Situation

With the 18 year-old’s rise to prominence in recent years, Óliver Torres was always going to attract attention. Over the past few months or so, it has been widely reported that the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool had sent scouts to watch the midfielder in action. Chelsea’s interest in the youngster is understood to be the most longstanding and concrete, with them reportedly having made what was described as a ‘dizzying offer’ in the summer of 2012.

Manchester City are supposedly the latest club to join a host of European clubs to register interest in Óliver. According to the Daily Mail, City sent their scout David Fernandez to Spain to watch him in Atlético’s goalless draw with Deportivo earlier this month.

Oliver has a contract keeping him at the Vicente Calderón until June 2017, and for now, it appears he’ll be staying there for years to come, despite the overwhelming interest expressed in him.

No doubt Atlético Madrid will find it harder and harder to retain the services of the midfielder as the years go by, but one thing’s for sure – no matter where Oliver Torres ends up, we can expect to see some great things from him.