Scouting report on Óscar Perea: the Portugal-Colombia connection remains strong | OneFootball

Óscar Perea fires an effort towards goal for AFS (Photo: Getty Images)

Colombia. A country of coffee, warm hospitality, emeralds, biodiversity, famous writers, and, of course, football. A lot of quality players have emerged from the country of “Los Cafeteros” and left their mark on the history of this sport, not only on the world stage (such as Valderrama and Higuita) but also in our country.

Between 2008 and 2013, this particular market was more heavily tapped than ever before, with FC Porto leading the way in bringing over Colombians. Players such as Fredy Guarín, James Rodríguez and Radamel Falcao arrived in Portugal via Porto, and later on Luis Díaz and Matheus Uribe followed suit. Interestingly, all of them have enjoyed great success both for the Portuguese club and for their national team, with the first two playing a key role in Colombia’s best-ever World Cup performance, reaching the quarter-finals at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Currently, the Portugal-Colombia connection remains strong, with names like Luis Suárez (one of the standout players in this season’s league), Richard Ríos (once a highly sought-after player in the Brazilian league), and also a young player who plays for AFS and proves that talent truly exists everywhere: Óscar Perea.

Óscar Perea heatmap of the 2025/26 season (Source: Sofascore)

Óscar Perea’s back story

Óscar Perea was born on 27 September 2005, in Pereira, Colombia. He was not yet one year old when he lost his father in a workplace accident, which led him to move with his mother to Santa Cecilia, where he took his first steps with the ball. On the advice of a relative, he went to train at the Envigado FC youth academy; however, he eventually returned to his hometown of Pereira. In 2018, he joined Club La Cantera, where he stayed for two years, before moving to Atlético Nacional, for whom he made his debut in 2022 in a match against Internacional of Bogotá, previously known as La Equidad.

From that point on, his talent was so evident that in 2022 he was named by the British newspaper The Guardian as one of the 60 best young talents in the world.

That season he played only his debut match, but the following season he played 44 games, contributing 7 goals and 3 assists, which sparked the interest among Europe’s top clubs.

In 2024, he was signed by Strasbourg for €5.2 million, becoming one of the most expensive transfers in the Colombian league.

In France, things did not go as planned, with the young Colombian making only 6 appearances, two for the first team and four for the reserves, ultimately failing to get the playing time he had hoped for.

Given this, and perhaps mindful of the strong track record Colombian players have had in Portugal, Strasbourg opted to loan the player to AFS at the start of this season.

Player Assessment

The young Colombian is an inverted winger. Specifically, he is a right-footed player who primarily plays as a left winger. He can also play on the opposite wing or as a central forward.

Óscar Perea season stats (Source: best11scouting)

Perea is a very mobile player who stands out above all for his unpredictability. He is a very agile and fast winger, both over short distances and longer stretches, able to change direction and speed quickly thanks to his excellent acceleration.

He can play both wide and close to the touchline, then execute his signature move of taking on the opponent in a 1-on-1 situation and utilizing his ball-handling skills and dribbling technique, as well as playing more centrally, trying to receive the ball in space, pass to a teammate, and then attack the space to finish, doing so intelligently and incisively, especially when he has to attack the box (one of the best at doing so in Portugal).

Despite his short stature (he is only 5’8”), he is a player with good physical strength, which helps him hold his own in duels with opposing defenders when going one-on-one, for example.

He is comfortable using both feet and has good finishing skills, particularly when it comes to shooting (good technique for powerful shots), and he is one of the players who takes the most shots in Portugal (averaging nearly 3 shots per game).

Comparison of wingers/attacking midfielders in top seven leagues across Europe - shot frequency (Source: datamb)

Areas for improvement

At just 20 years old and in his second stint in Europe, the young Colombian naturally has room for improvement, particularly when it comes to the defensive aspect of his game. I believe he still shows a low work rate and some lack of consistency in his actions, as he rarely presses the ball carrier, for example, during the opponent’s initial defensive build-up (and when he does, he misses the timing of the tackle) or in defensive transitions, where he either fails to make the tackle or gives up on it, leaving the team exposed to dangerous situations.

However, still regarding this aspect of the game, I must highlight his good reading of the game during defensive organisation, ultimately managing to intercept some balls, where he uses his speed to attack space and punish the opponent through the offensive transition.

Conclusion

To date, Óscar Perea has played in 21 matches across all domestic competitions, scoring two goals. Despite having played in 21 matches, he has not played a full 90 minutes in any of them. Since the Portuguese Cup tie against Sporting CP (where he actually came on and did well), he has seen very little playing time (between 20 and 30 minutes per game), which, in a team increasingly short on talent, is somewhat surprising.

It is true that the context does not favour him, given that AFS is a team that spends 90% of the time defending and the young Colombian is clearly an attack-minded player (who likes to take on opponents one-on-one). Given his limited playing time, it is likely the season is not going as he had anticipated. However, between September and October of last year, Óscar Perea participated in the U-20 World Cup held in Chile, where he was a starter and one of the standout players of the competition. The Colombian national team secured third place, and Perea scored the goal to secure a bronze medal in a 1-0 win versus France in the 3rd/4th place match.

I believe his strong performance in the tournament helped attract the attention of other clubs in world soccer as well as his parent club Strasbourg, and perhaps the player could participate in preseason training with the French club’s first team or be loaned to another club where his playing style is a better fit.