Projections: Mali U-17's Sékou Koné

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Sékou Koné has joined Manchester United. 9 months ago, I saw a few tapes on him, made a snap-judgment, and shared it on my account. This essay will discuss how I arrived at the take, imply why time-locked projections are valuable, and expose faults in my process.

§ 01Background

In one essay from May, Avoiding the Description Trap when Scouting (or Analyzing), I write:

Similarly, when curating scouting reports, it is easy to get bogged down with descriptions (what is a player doing) and not prescription (what could a player do). The former, I find, misses the core actionable part of any informative report. Here are four questions that assist us:

• What are they capable of doing – not what we see them doing?

• How well can they do it?

• Can we benchmark it against any archived setting?

• Where is the ideal environment?

§ 02Examining my Snap-Take on Sékou Koné

• What are they capable of doing – not what we see them doing?

• Engine: Sékou covered ground well – at the very least, better than the average midfielder in these tournaments.

• Commands opp. & possession with his body (esp. on ball reception): Sékou demonstrated strong intuition of space and pressure especially when receiving the ball: shimmies to evade pressure, side-steps to throw opponents off, and flops to win fouls from unsuspecting tacklers.

• Agile: claw-like interventions with his long legs: Sékou is a leggy player. He's built for the floor sprawls and quick lateral shunts that define today's midfield pressers and protectors. He also displayed a knack for poking his leg into improbable spots to win the ball back. Went to ground and got up quickly.

• Level-headed in duels: Despite his processing speed and physique, Sékou tackles and duels retained a dose of composure. He regularly sprinted into tough challenges but remained focused on the ball and/or disrupting his opponent's flow.

• His 1st-time release is crisp. Scuffs it with more (pre)touches: Sékou was willing to attempt and completed many difficult first-time passes. That he attempted, alone, is a good sign – evidence of a sharp operator and a player who spots pockets to penetrate. However, with more touches on the ball, Sékou seemed to get lost in possibilities and took looser, steal-able touches.

• How well can they do it?

• Can we benchmark it against any archived setting?

• Sékou played at the U-17 World Cup. This competition is, at that age group, the pinnacle of competitive football in the world. Mali finish 3rd.

• While Sékou and other young would have been scouted and followed beforehand, these tournaments allow scouts to juxtapose the player's profile against tougher, matched opposition. Furthermore, there's precedent that good performers go on to have relatively successful professional careers.

• In More Non-Trivial Scouting Cues, I write:

• Where is the ideal environment?

• Everything you read before this subheading factored into my projection: Mali's team was great, World Cup and African Cup of Nations experience, Sékou could play the full 90, his teammates trusted him in difficult situations.

• Yet, the final, major indicator that Sékou was competitive for a big move was that his profile solved problems faced by the elite, UEFA Champions League-vying institutions.

• Whereas assurance in possession had been, for many years, a sufficient marker for these clubs, today's meta has increasingly rewarded teams with athletes who:

• Think Aston Villa's Amadou Onana. Arsenal's Declan Rice. Manchester City's Mattheus Nunes.

Let's see how his time at United plays out. Onto the next.