Mateo del Blanco, among the top 10 under-23s in Argentine football | OneFootball

The 542nd weekly report by CIES, a research center created in 1995 by FIFA, the University of Neuchâtel, and the municipality of that Swiss city, evaluated the performances over the past six months of under-23 footballers (goalkeepers excluded) playing for teams in 67 countries around the world. The material used as the basis for the study was provided by Impect, a German company dedicated to collecting and analyzing data related to football performance.

The ranking was compiled based on players’ performances in eight areas of play chosen by CIES (aerial defending, ground defending, build-up play, orchestration, dribbling, chance creation, aerial attacking, and finishing), which were weighted according to each footballer’s position. In addition, the sporting level of the matches played, the results, and playing time were taken into account.

In the Americas, CIES focused on 13 leagues across the continent: nine in South America, three in North America, and one in Central America. Among the hundreds of players observed, the one who earned the highest rating was Brazilian forward Vitor Roque (84.1), whose standout quality was finishing.

In the Americas, CIES focused on 13 leagues across the continent: nine in South America, three in North America, and one in Central America. Among the hundreds of players observed, the one who earned the highest rating was Brazilian forward Vitor Roque (84.1), whose standout quality was finishing.

Behind the Palmeiras attacker came Lautaro Di Lollo (80.4), praised for his aerial defending, and Milton Delgado (79.6), whose most notable value was his defensive work in ground-ball actions (the number of interceptions and duels won in his own half).

Focusing exclusively on Argentina’s top-flight competition, the two Boca players are followed in the ratings by Mateo del Blanco (Unión), Lautaro Rivero (River), Matías Abaldo (Independiente), Ignacio Ovando (Rosario Central), Tobías Andrada (Vélez), Álex Luna (Instituto), Agustín Medina (Lanús), and Alejo Véliz (Rosario Central).

The strong performances by young Argentines across the Americas are not limited to the Liga Profesional de Fútbol: Argentine representatives also appear among the top 20 in competitions such as those in Brazil (Álvaro Montoro, Agustín Giay, and Román Gómez), the United States (Elías Báez and Mateo Silvetti), and Mexico (Javier Ruiz and Nicolás Vallejo).

On a global scale, it is hardly surprising that the 38 highest-rated footballers play in Europe’s leagues (the first to break that trend is Vitor Roque). Among them, the most outstanding is Spain’s Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), while the podium is completed by Turkey’s Kenan Yildiz (Juventus) and France’s Warren Zaïre-Emery (Paris Saint-Germain).

Among the top 100 on the global list, 67 play for teams in one of Europe’s five biggest leagues: the English Premier League, Spain’s LaLiga, Italy’s Serie A, Germany’s Bundesliga, and France’s Ligue 1. The best among those playing outside that group is Belgian forward Mika Godts, who wears the shirt of Dutch side Ajax and sits in 14th place.

Among that group of the 100 most outstanding under-23 players in the world, there are seven Argentines. The highest-ranked is Italian Como midfielder Nicolás Paz, who appears in 24th place. Further down are Alejandro Garnacho (33rd), of Chelsea; Matías Soulé (51st), of Roma; Valentín Barco (54th), of Racing Strasbourg; Gianluca Prestianni (69th), of Benfica; Santiago Castro (88th), of Bologna; and Valentín Gómez (92nd), of Betis.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.