Scout report: Maxence Caqueret
Rayan Cherki, Amine Gouiri and Maxence Caqueret are all the latest wonderkids from Lyon’s prestigious academy
“Everything I have achieved in football is due to playing football in the streets with my friends”
He is trying to tell us something, something that rings especially true about football. It’s like no other sport, it can be played almost anywhere with any amount of people and even the most rudimentary of equipment. It's the sport of the poor and the rich, the white, the black, its diversity is unmatched. This has become exemplified when we take a look at the banlieues of France and in particular Lyon.
Born in Venissieux, a blue-collar suburb to the south of Lyon, Caqueret is no stranger to the streets. Just start typing Vénissieux into Google and one of the top autocomplete options is “Vénissieux dangereux”. No translation is needed. It’s a region of the city where the political mindset is influenced by the workers at the local Renault factory and the diverse makeup of the communities around it. The area was home to Les Minguettes, a residential district made up of high-rise public housing into which many immigrants were moved during the latter part of the 20th century. This led to tension between the residents in the area and the authorities, which then sparked multiple riots during the early 1980s and even 2005- 5 years after Caqueret was born/
Amid this tension, there is something special brewing. Children of all sizes, races, and backgrounds play in the streets with their friends. It provides a distraction from the trouble they grow up around in these deprived neighbourhoods, and they build a special sort of grit, determination, and camaraderie that can’t be taught using any coaching manuals. OL’s sporting director and hero, Juninho Pernambucano, testified to this too after seeing Caqueret play for the first time, “I immediately noticed he had been brought up on futsal like most Brazilian players”.
He joined OL’s academy when he was 11 and sailed through the ranks, quickly becoming an integral part of France’s youth teams where he would often wear the armband. His quiet, determined confidence and authority on the pitch despite his size endeared him towards his coaches, who were soon in awe of him, “Maxence is a kid who arrived ready-made, he was a natural. There was no need to make him work on the fundamentals'', youth coach Jean-Louis Farion tells France Football. Just like so many of his agemates, he is superb technically after years of playing in the streets having to dodge cars and cyclists.
Upon signing his first professional contract, OL’s president, Jean-Michael Aulas called him ‘the future of this club’, and it's hard to see Caqueret leaving as of now either after cementing his space in the lineup. The most valuable trait he has for Lyon is his love for the club, just like many of the youths the club gave a chance to.
Ever grateful to them he reveals this upon signing his first contract, “I’m proud to sign my first professional contract with OL. The club belongs to my heart!”.
He began his ascent to the first team in 2016/17, where he stepped up to the reserves and began training with the first team at just 18 years old in 2018. However the young star would have to wait a while longer after the arrivals of Sylvinho who wasn’t particularly interested in utilising Caqueret, instead, Thiago Mendes and Jean Lucas were brought in, who bumped him down the pecking order. Caqueret was patient, soon enough Sylvinho was sacked, and in came Rudi Garcia who really lit the spark for the youngster. He gave him his first Ligue 1 start and his first domestic cup start where he scored an impressive goal in a win over Bourge-en-Brasse* and then assisted against Brest 4 days later. He was beginning to blossom now and Garcia was more than pleased with how he was developing, “He [Caqueret] plays for the team, runs for the team, [he] gives us more technical control in midfield”. However, his best quality in my opinion is his striking ability to win the ball, which he does very intelligently.
Position, attributes and skills
He is also a versatile player and can slot into many different roles according to the system. He’s played with ease in a double-pivot and also as an 8 in a 4-3-3, however, his teammate Marcelo insists he can play as a wide midfielder in a 4-4-2 or even as a 10. Considering the system Lyon play, Caqueret is most often utilised in a pivot, however, he can perform at a very high level playing as an 8 too as he did against Manchester City in the Champions League and Juventus. Caqueret was OL’s best player vs Juventus, in Lisbon without a doubt, where he almost single-handedly disrupted the Old Lady’s attack, and he would do so again against Manchester City where he suffocated Rodri and Gundogan admirably.
Caqueret’s heatmap from 2019/20
He is one of the best young ball winners in the world, like a pit bull when he gets going his stamina and engine is amongst the best in his age group. He wins the ball most in the middle of the pitch, with more than 50% of his defensive actions being in that third, however, he often presses high into the final third as well unlike many of his counterparts, and often disrupts the opposing team when they’re building up. It's a testament to his footballing intelligence, he understands when he has the license to press high and when he should sit into the settled shape. This is exemplified in the fact that he averages 6.8 pressures in the final third, a considerable amount more than his counterparts. He also has a 30% success rate which is respectable considering one of the best young ball winners in his age group, Aurelien Tchouameni has one of 32%. As he gains more experience he will become even better at reading the game than he already is.
To assess his qualities we can take a deeper look at his performances vs Manchester City and Juventus in the Champions League knock-out rounds of 2020- games which showcased his defensive prowess and his attacking nous.
INDIVIDUAL GAME ANALYSIS
OL vs Juventus 2019/20 UCL QF
To see his defensive and attacking actions in the game, this video will have them.
In this game, Lyon were given a lot more of the ball than they were against Man City and this meant we saw Caqueret play more of a box to box role. He disrupted the Juventus attack and build up on many occasions, knowing when and how to carry out a tactical foul- Adrien Rabiot would come away from the game not knowing what had hit him. He progressed the ball very well and resisted the press admirably, completing all of his dribbles, and he would drive forward from the middle third and the final third to advance the ball on numerous occasions. Despite his diminutive stature, he would bring Adrien Rabiot to the point of tears, with the former-PSG man struggling to make any sort of impact on the game due to Caqueret’s presence. He was incredible that night, he simply never stopped working, he shone even the team looked bad, he never gave up, all in his first-ever Champions League appearance he showed maturity beyond his years.
OL vs Manchester City 2019/20 UCL QF
To see his defensive and attacking actions in the game, this video will have them.
Caqueret’s masterful performance vs Man City went unnoticed due to the miss of Sterling in the later stages of the game.
This is probably Caqueret’s finest professional performance to this day, and it sums up everything there is to like about him. The effortlessness in the way he dispossessed the City players in and around the middle of the pitch and disrupted the buildup in the second phase was downright amazing. We can associate this is to his game intelligence- he reads the game state and can think several phases ahead which allows him to target certain players and position himself in zones where he can intercept the ball and start counterattacks. He screened the backline very well, often shifting wide to defend the flank when the fullback dropped or was in transition and he managed to restrict Gundogan and Cancelo’s movement in and out of the left halfspace. His passing was excellent; it was efficient, it progressed the attack, it started counter-attacks, it split the lines multiple times and it was always positive. He used his body very well in this game and ran rings around Rodri- a similar build and profile to Rabiot. He was quicker than the City midfield, he exploited the lack of mobility in their pivot and Rodri’s poor decision making, he drew numerous fouls from them and slowed the game down for his team. He worked tirelessly throughout the Juventus, City, and Bayern games covering 34,439 kilometres- on average 11,479km per game.
CONCLUSION
I think he thrives in a three-man midfield the most and his qualities are really brought to light in that way. To achieve the greatest balance in the midfield as well as maximise Caqueret’s effectiveness in the team he should play with a holding midfielder who can sit in the middle of the field and next to him he should play with an attacking 8 who can also form a pivot out of possession. This allows the team to settle into a compact shape and simultaneously allows Caqueret to disrupt the opposition's build-up and shape without the fear of unbalancing the midfield. It also allows for a greater degree of flexibility, as Caqueret is also very good at sitting back and defending certain zones which can allow the team to become even more compact in defence.
He is a unique profile of player and Lyon should count themselves lucky he is happy to stay there, there aren’t many in the world who can attest to his talent and maturity. Probably the only player in his age group I can think of who performs all of his duties at a high level, is Aurelien Tchouameni of Monaco, who is also a very promising talent. I can’t see Caqueret leaving the club in the near future, as he’s cemented his place into the first team now and he loves the club, but maybe more interest will be shown in the 20-year old as he starts to play more this season which will be a turning point in his career.
The 2020/21 season will be his most involved season to date and he’s already played more games this season than he did in the 2019/20 and 2018/19 seasons combined, however, he will not be competing in the Champions League this season after Lyon finished 7th in the league last season. Now that he has become a regular starter for the first team, Lyon are sitting at the top of the Ligue 1 table. Coincidence? I highly doubt it.
Written by @/centr0campista_ on Twitter who you can follow.
