Scout Report: Michy Batshuayi

Michy Batshuayi currently plays for Olympique Marseille as a forward

Michy Batshuayi Tunga or in short Michy Batshuayi is a Belgian footballer who currently plays for French club Olympique Marseille as a striker. Given his physical built and eye for goal, he has been touted as the next Romelu Lukaku (his fellow countryman).

Profile

Batshuayi started his football career at the tender age of 12 while playing for the Belgian side RFC Evere in 2003-04 which was followed by a move to RWDM Brussels FC in 2005-06.

His youth career took a big leap when he became a part of the much-coveted academy of Anderlecht in 2006-07 but had to move out the next year. His career started to blossom after he was signed by another Belgian side Standard Liège in 2008 to be part of their youth team.

He got his first senior team appearance in 2011 against Gent. He restored the faith shown to him by coach Dominique D'Onofrio when he scored the only goal against FC Copenhagen in 2010-11 UEFA Europa League to send his team through to the knockout stages.

During his stay at the club, he played a little more than 90 games and scored a prolific 40 goals. His goal scoring record at Standard Liege was enough to attract the attention of French giants Olympique de Marseille when he was signed by them in 2014 for a fee close to 8 million Euros, even though he was linked with a move to the clubs like Tottenham, FC Porto and Benfica.

He also got a chance to don the colors of Belgian National team in 2015 against Cyprus where he was used a substitute. He also scored the fifth goal in his side’s 5-0 victory.

Style, Strength, and Weakness

Batshuayi is a natural centre-forward but given his versatility, he can even be deployed as right forward or even in the number 10 role, behind the striker. He is comfortable on the ball and is a decent passer in the final third which is evident from his pass completion rate of around 77%.

His main strengths is a combination of speed with great aerial ability. His aerial abilities make him a threat during set-piece situations. Again in the final third, he can also use his physical strength to get past defenders.

On top of it, his off the ball movements is also an asset that makes him available inside the penalty box to tap an oddball which occasionally makes him a candidate who will run into offside positions too often (he has a record of 0.6 offsides per game).

Moreover, his ability to score using both feet also makes him even more dangerous in the penalty box. His main weakness lies in his decision-making abilities which is evident from a poor key pass rate which is at 0.3 per game.

Again, he is a not a great dribbler of the ball with only 0.8 successful dribbles per game. Further, sometimes he becomes too over-ambitious in his will to do something spectacular and often kills off moves by playing an unnecessary long shot although at Standard Ligue, he has also contributed to goals through his long rangers.

He might have issues with coach/managers who also want all of their players to contribute defensively. Even though his performances with Marseille has been good, he often struggles against the bigger teams like PSG and Lyon where he was largely anonymous.

Again as a right winger/forward, his performances have not been that great. The biggest issue with him being used as a right winger/forward is his inability to send crosses which is again evident from the fact that throughout the season he only sent a few crosses which is even less than 1 cross per game.

He has a tendency of cutting in and then takes a shot at the goal from near the 30-yard box.

Stats

In the 2014-15 season, Batshuayi has played in 26 games for Marseille and has scored 9 times including three braces against Lens, Toulouse and St. Etienne. Further, he has also scored a goal in Coupe De la Ligue against Renes.

Transfer Situation

Since he was transferred only last year to Marseille, it is highly unlikely that he could be transferred to some other club. But the clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal or AS Roma who are already looking to strengthen their strike force come up with a serious offer then Marseille will also be tempted to accept the same.

Given his talent combined with his age (21 years) and the price at which he can be bought, Bathshuayi is an attractive prospect for some of the bigger clubs looking for a forward.