The dawn of the best French defenders has been quite synonymous to the ones passionate in following breakout stars. One as such is 18 year old Kyllian Antonio – a French born defender.
Having made his debut in the back ends of last season for RC Lens, he had to wait for opportunities this season. Ismaelo Ganiou, Malang Sarr and Samson Baidoo have put an all timer defenders season that’s seen the French side consistently in conversations for the Ligue 1 title from the beginning of the campaign.
Starting in the French Cup final vs Nice which they eventually won, the young star became the second youngest player to start a final in the competition since the year 2000 – what a performance it was as well.
Player Profile:
Platformed as a wide centre back in RC Lens’ system, the teenager is an architect of carving out danger defensively and bring in progression from deep, Antonio is a mature and technical operator showcasing calmness in his actions.
Composure is transitioned into his on the ball passing profile where he shows good reading of movement validating his teammates. The wide positioning helps him connect to angles of runs wider down his channel making him prefer longer threaded passes.
Defensively, he’s got an old school look about with his technique; strong body orientation, usage of hands vs ambitious dribblers alongside habitual jumping of lines. The awareness in reading the game is visually present.
He’s got a boisterous personality that sees him confident in his actions at this age, could potentially have a mental profile of a leader. How he deals with tackles won, the communication in actions – he’s got a commanding presence.
Although having been featured as a RB for France youth sides, his ZOI interest for club right now shows to be a good wide receiver and progressor. This compliments his athletic and physical capabilities of recovery pace as well.
Over long term, he could feature in a 4 at the back system as the RCB or even continue his 3 at the back wide CB role; moving in as a ball playing libero if developed well with an undiscovered carrying potential. The frequency of losing possession needs to mitigate where he could be overly ambitious alongside better aerial alignment.