Scout Report: Malick Fofana

It’s been a great year for Malick Fofana. Since joining from Gent for €19.5m last January, the 20-year-old has produced eye-catching numbers, especially on the European stage with 8 goals and assists in fewer than 6 90s. This has seen him gradually cement himself as a permanent fixture on the Lyon team sheet and has earned him his first call-up to the Belgian national team.

To contextualise what’s behind such impressive figures in his breakout season, here’s my analysis of the left-winger, ranging from his uniquely positive attacking foundations to his surprisingly frustrating attacking execution…

Style of play

In attack

Malick is, first and foremost, outstanding at terrorising defenders with the ball at his feet. Few players have as impeccable command of the ball as he does when running at speed, and few can take passes as smoothly in their stride as he does. Getting him on the ball already goal-facing spells almost certain danger for any defence, especially in transitions, because his ability to weight touches is exemplary.

He loves to drive forwards whenever the opportunity presents itself and never seems to fall victim to a stray touch when moving at high speeds, keeping his touches close into his body with the outside of his boot. Even when his first touch might lead him slightly astray, the closeness of his control frequently allows him to correct his path in the blink of an eye.

He walks that tightrope of showing the defender the ball (in order to force a retreat) without overstepping his mark beautifully, meaning any attempt at an early intervention is routinely punished by the winger’s excellent reaction times to then shift the ball into space, leaving the defender stranded.

There is even something ghostly about the way he does shift the ball past players when building up a head of steam – a lot of the time, that shifting touch into space can look as unpronounced as the microscopic one he took to keep the ball moving just prior. By taking it as more of an ordinary touch than one that alerts the defender, he’s able to create great disguise that allows for separations out wide that are great for creating crossing opportunities.

Not only does he have such good timing to be able to chop in or out as his opponent commits to a challenge, but he uses his body fantastically to manipulate and psych out defenders. He’s able to create the sort of chaotic air that you see the likes of Jérémy Doku and Désiré Doué produce that petrifies defenders into opening up paths for them to waltz through.

What’s so vital about this quality of his is that a lot of dribblers who lead with the outside of their boot and drive so aggressively out in front inherently increase their risk of dispossession and the risk shrinking both their angles of escape and time to process the 2nd and 3rd moves. I highlighted this in my piece on Momodou Sonko, who’s been suffering from these issues. However, when you can cause such hesitancy in defenders without even actively progressing the ball further, you can buy yourself time and space to assess the situation further and increase your ability to reset, if needed. The Belgian applies this expertly mid-dribble so not to overrun the ball – acknowledging when it’s best to not even take a touch but instead use his body to warn off interventions.

Thanks to his scanning and awareness of his close proximity, he often has the wherewithal to initiate drastic faints towards oncoming defenders before he’s even received the ball, too, so that he can check back into his original space with time to get settled.

The Lyon attacker shows so much inventiveness with all the tools he possesses, wherever he is on the pitch. Following deep turnovers, he’s so switched on to how he can get around his opponent – usually on the outside – by extending initial touches to bait defenders, as well as pushing the ball into those forward spaces earlier than anticipated, enabling him to immediately spring against the grain of opposition pressure.

And a lot of this is thanks to his incredible agility. Malick accelerates from static positions, changes direction and can turn on a dime with unbelievable ease, adjusting his steps at speeds that allow his feet to keep up with his head. Because of all of this, he’s consistently able to create separations when parallel with defenders in static 1v1s, and can eat up ground at a devastating rate. The latter, in particular, is why he ranks so highly in progressive carries (98th percentile), progressive carrying distance (92nd percentile) and carries into the final third (94th percentile) among attacking midfielders and wingers across European competition and the Big 5 leagues this season..

The clarity with which he varies the weights of his touches, especially over larger distances when the obstacles are fewer and more manageable, is something to behold. Being as rapid as he is no doubt gives him the confidence necessary to back himself in any foot race, but even then, the ability to weight any kind of touch with as much precision and calculation as he does is another matter entirely.

The only hiccups that tend to occur for the 20-year-old are when attempting to cut across the line from out-to-in using his weaker foot to direct the ball, as those touches can sometimes be angled too far across or are not met convincingly enough to keep him on course.

The surprising aspect of his statistical outlay on this front is that the dribbling figures themselves don’t make much of an impression at all. In fact, without watching the tape, you’d be forgiven for thinking he was a rather toothless ball carrier due to his very average 3.55 take-ons attempted per 90 (49th percentile) and a measly 39.8% success rate (31st percentile).

What might help explain such disparity between eyes and numbers is that Malick prefers to shift-and-release when attacking his man. He cares more about creating the lateral space to exploit with a delivery or shot than he does fully rounding his opponent to get himself into wholly more advantageous positions. And his ability to buy time and space in congested situations is highlighted by his much more impressive dispossession figure of 0.98 per 90 (88th percentile).

It’s reflective of both his general selflessness and the lack of authority he takes with the ball. There are plenty of opportunities where Malick has the chance to be more direct and seize a gap on his own but is too reluctant to fly solo, wanting to do what he feels is best for the stability of a possession passage.

Even beyond the obvious chances to do so, he certainly has the ability to bite off more than he currently does so that he could create something out of nothing. As a consequence, he can be guilty of laying off the ball too quickly, leaving potentially dangerous spaces unexplored, even when he’s the player best fit to attack it.

This, perhaps, lack of greater spatial awareness is also occasionally evident in some 1v1 situations where he loses sight of likely secondary opponents he’ll encounter, who have been given the time to get across during his exploits when he’s been so focused on the duel at hand. It’s not proven to be a huge problem, as he tends to manage crowds pretty well, but it nevertheless highlights some limits to his broader awareness. And this only reinforces why he fares better in transitions where obstacles can be hurdled one at a time, compared to the multi-layered awareness that is sometimes required against deep blocks.

There are even times where he seems daunted by the crowd of bodies ahead and lulls himself into a slower pace when he has enough there to inject some of his own. On the flip side, there will be times where he arrives at the edge of the box with no good options but will look to force an action of some kind that simply isn’t on, and in these instances, he should do the safer thing of circling back and resetting.

However, awareness isn’t a large scale issue for him by any means. The aforementioned pre-scanning of opponents nearby extends also to the whereabouts of his teammates up and down the pitch. Following turnovers, he’s often well aware of where the forward options are and is no slouch in releasing the ball quickly with either foot.

Arguably even more impressive, considering lots of wide forwards fall victim to tunnel vision in these instances, is that he makes a great habit of identifying the best options to hit in the box before delivering crosses, as well. Often, he does this in the midst of his dribble, so it’s not as if he needs to be afforded excessive time to spot his teammates.

His passing as a whole isn’t too expansive but this level of awareness and the variation in his execution really work in his team’s favour in various situations. Being so comfortable releasing the ball with his weaker foot, and being so deft with clipped balls over the top of opponents with his right, means he finds clever ways to access teammates beyond the initial lines of defence.

In general, though, and especially when in the final third, Malick prefers to defer responsibility to others on this front, particularly Rayan Cherki, who he, understandably, sees as someone worth delegating responsibility of the ball to at the earliest possible juncture.

Whilst shifting responsibility onto others can result in productive, selfless layoffs that keep play ticking or help to stabilise attacks as the team transitions forwards, the flip side is that he can halt attacks that he should be leading a greater charge on and doesn’t act on his own forward releases as much as he could.

He’s not the sort of creative force that will ping the ball forwards and then make it their prerogative to follow it up themselves. He’s sometimes even guilty of standing still after doing so. In a lot of cases versus well-set deep blocks, whilst he can come up with effective solutions in 1v1s, he tends to be trailing when it comes to more team-oriented moves that require higher-paced circulation and movement.

That said, what hinders his ability to simply produce these progressive passes at a higher volume is how he receives the ball. When meeting the ball back towards his goal, Malick doesn’t absorb the pace of the ball nor opposition pressure well enough to make it stick or to give himself the platform to move forwards with his 2nd touch.

Whilst he’s not opposed to setting the ball with his weaker foot out wide, and he can cushion it the way that is most ideal (see below), he generally just doesn’t look to shift in time with the ball to be able to kill it dead like this.

He often instead meets it with a narrower frame that is more susceptible to controls that are looser and get caught under him, often necessitating further touches before he can properly square up his opponent. By that time, the defender has been able to thoroughly limit his angles of progression.

It’s even worse when receiving with his back to goal and when under pressure. He over-prioritises meeting the ball first in these instances, which means contrasting the ball’s momentum with his, making it doubly difficult to kill the speed of even regularly-paced passes. Add pressure into the equation with this narrow frame and it makes him a very easy player to dislodge, as he affords himself little-to-no leverage by not spreading his weight and lowering his centre of gravity. This much alone likely contributes a decent amount to his middling average of 2.14 miscontrols (56th percentile).

Not only does it make it hard for him to consistently receive and spring forwards with his right foot on his 2nd touch, it makes it almost impossible to stand any chance of using the pressure applied to his advantage by rolling defenders and hurdling physical engagement in the middle third. So, he’s definitely not somebody you could pick out from a goal kick and expect to judge the flight of the ball when a physical duel is looming, much less actually pin his man effectively with his back to goal in the process. He uses his body better mid-run to withstand physical intervention, but needs to become a more willing participant in these encounters..

The one piece of relief Malick affords himself in these situations is the comfort to play out of pressure with passes using either foot. He seems as comfortably releasing it with his weaker left as he does his stronger right, which means he doesn’t need to over-adjust to access the gaps he’s left to play back out of when he’s being surrounded.

Malick’s rotational movements and positioning is still generally up to scratch but, especially in trailing game states where more intensity is needed to dismantle a compact opposition block, he doesn’t always seem to be fully in tune with the urgency that his teammates have, and the urgency that is required of him when the 1v1 option isn’t there for the taking. He only attempts 35.35 passes per 90 (46th percentile), 2.44 of them being progressive (16th percentile) and receives 35.95 (52nd percentile).

As someone who’s used primarily as a touchline winger – consistently spreading high and wide to be available on the switch or as an out ball post-turnovers – there is room for improvement in the variety to his ball offerings. In a similar category to the above, he could drift deeper and inwards more often than he currently does by his own accord. He currently only averages 15.71 middle 3rd touches (25th percentile).

The positive side of his movement is that he does still move quite tirelessly up and down the flank. He executes a lot of effective double movements going both ways to throw off defenders, and has proven that he can make near-endless, positive channel runs. The main issue being service into them, of which he doesn’t get much. Even though he times long-range runs to occur when a teammate has adequate time and space to field a pass, they rarely seek him out or anticipate his movements, which possibly says something about his reputation, or lack thereof, as a goal threat in general.

Malick’s pure attacking instincts aren’t a part of his strong suits despite a healthy 0.49 non-penalty goals per 90 over the last year (89th percentile) and an average of 6.08 touches in the opposition penalty area (85th percentile). When far-sided crosses are looming, he’s never lurking and looking to attack space. Even when he’s in the box, and the space is gaping at the back post, he’s still reluctant to commit all the way, even when he’s left unmarked. And, when on the counter as a far-sided option, he doesn’t angle his movements in off the shoulder as much as he should, instead, often moving passively within his opponent’s eye-line.

His goal-getting tendencies therefore are much more in line with that of a traditional touchline winger. He could be trained to attack the back stick better and have his speed through the channels more heavily weaponised since his acceleration from a static start is frighteningly quick.

As well, when Malick sees an opportunity to execute an out-to-in run or arrive late at the back post, he’s nigh-on-impossible to keep pace with, and this can allow for some very effective sneak attacks.

Unfortunately, these sneak attacks not only catch the opposition by surprise but also his fellow teammates. The margins of these runs at the best of times are so small and his attempts are often so sporadic that there’s no reason for a crosser to bank on such movements happening repeatedly. As a consequence, you have great bursts to the back post going unseen, and great chances for more glaring space to be attacked going wilfully unexploited by the Belgian.

That’s why, for now, Malick isn’t quite that major off-ball force, hence his non-penalty goals to expected goals differential being at +0.21 per 90, which is not far off double his expected goalscoring rate.

Similar hesitancies towards going it on his own when with the ball further highlight why he averages just 1.84 shots (30th percentile) despite so often creating easy separations to get off these shots. It’s also why statistics like his average shooting distance (14.4 yards – 88th percentile) and goals per shot (0.26 – 99th percentile) rank so exceedingly high, since he habitually limits himself to higher-margin attempts at goal, for better and for worse.

When he does set himself up right, he has a knack for finding the far right reaches of the goal with tremendous accuracy – highlighted by his 55.8% shot on target % (99th percentile). If he can yet be assigned a trademark finish, this is the one.

The big stumbling block to generating and capitalising on more of these opportunities is both that lacking urge to do it himself and him needing specific conditions to nail his release.

Malick is best set to punish a defence when the ball sits for him to meet it head-on so that he can get firmly under it and wrap his boot around the ball for perfect curl. Against moving balls – especially laterally moving ones – he really struggles to get his weight transfer right, mostly because he often fails to plant his left foot well enough to give him the necessary spacing to unleash.

You can see this in instances where he’s having to meet a ball first-time and needs to set it outside the far post, but the congestion caused by how far across he plants his left foot means he can’t get inside the ball enough to do so.

He also tends to prefer setting himself with very short shifts of the ball to avoid judging so much lateral ball move, which, when inside the box, can still work against him by clogging up his motion entirely when the shift is not quite measured correctly.

The need to then rectify his initial touch can close shut that small windows of opportunity he had to get off a clean shot. As much as I’ve praised his ability to weight his touches, it’s clear that it comes much more naturally when instigating or continuing a dribble, than when the end goal is purely to set up a shot.

What makes these limitations more damaging is that he doesn’t tend to attempt a wide range of shots, regardless of what the specific shooting situation is calling for. He almost never powers through with his laces, nor does he often slot the ball with the inside of his boot nearly as much as he should in an effort to overcome these instances where his normal technique might struggle.

Unfortunately, a lack of consistent quality in the final execution plagues his creative side, too. Something which is all the more damning given how persistent he is at not only opting to cross with, but also seemingly preferring to shift it onto, his weaker foot the majority of the time. It’s rare you see a player so stubbornly choose to chop back onto their weaker like Malick does.

Whilst this can be very effective for subverting opposition expectations, all the hard work of creating the separation and identifying the right options can just as well go to waste as a result of his untidy executions.

The planting of the non-striking foot is an even bigger issue here. Malick just never looks fully comfortable planting his right foot across to the ball, and especially, again, versus balls he’s having to track laterally. Too often he will leave his right foot too far shy of the mark from which he will eventually have to meet the ball and, as a consequence, will find himself leaning back and/or pulling back inwards off his right foot. This leads to countless occasions where he’s then pulling the ball too far back behind his targets on cutbacks and/or putting too much air in the ball for deliveries into the middle because he can’t avoid getting too far underneath the ball at contact.

Resultantly, Malick attempts 0.64 crosses into the penalty area per 90 (93rd percentile), but only averages 1.46 key passes (33rd percentile).

Never being able to stay over the ball after shifting it into space like this means there are so many good opportunities for driven balls across the face of goal that go unexploited, as well as good weaker foot shooting chances that he’s unable to attempt or doesn’t consider taking on.

The insistence on going this route does make for some more questionable decision-making, of course. There are times where he’ll trade in a great look at a right-footed in swinger in order to chop back outside again, only to find the options are no longer there for him to hit. It’s not as though his stronger foot deliveries lack the quality to justify this, either – they can often be excellently-weighted.

So, it’s without question that he needs to strike a better balance between the use of his two feet so that he can better act on the advantageous positions in and around the box that he regularly creates for his stronger foot.

Much like with the right foot, though, on occasions when he gets to step onto the ball vertically and with the ball not moving at speed, he’s very comfortable releasing good, low, driving weaker foot passes, crosses and shots that can perfectly capitalise on the situation.

Even if the quality of execution is lacking in its consistency, there’s something undeniably eye-catching about how often the forward is able to produce something in matches, regardless of how little involvement he’s had. The foundations are certainly there for his output to skyrocket, but the hurdle to getting there appears undoubtedly steep right now.

In defence

Whilst by no means the strongest part of the Belgian’s game, Malick has shown solid enough promise on the defensive side of things for a player in his position to not have it be a mark on his profile.

His positional sensibilities and overall intensity levels have their inconsistencies, but at his best, he’s vigilant of his surroundings, doesn’t jump the gun too early on trigger presses, and willingly works back very deep to track his opposite number.

His rapid acceleration is something that can definitely be weaponised when it comes to those trigger presses, and in potentially leading the charge on forcing teams backwards.

However, it’s not something he’s consistently able to perform due to the technical aspects of his defending. When confronting opponents, he’s been guilty of approaching with a body shape that is too narrow and upstanding, meaning that he minimises his own coverage and leaves himself very vulnerable to shifts of the ball against the grain of his press. As well, higher up in the press, he’s been guilty of leaving obvious passing lanes down the line over exposed.

It’s not as though he’s incapable of lowering and spreading his body to cast a more ominous silhouette for opponents, and to be able to shut down their angles, but this is better executed deeper and works half the time.

An issue on top of this is that he’s quite non-committal when in close quarters with others. Like in possession, he doesn’t prioritise getting across with his body, preferring just to get to the ball first with his boot, which makes many situations more of a 50/50 contest (or, rather, 25/75, in his case) than they should be.

Generally, when he’s contained an opponent well, he doesn’t do enough, either in approach or attitude to the situation, to capitalise by attempting to smother them and to force them back. It can give the opposition that unwarranted moment of respite to be able to reset within that same zone of the pitch.

When Malick does attempt to make tackles, they don’t always make enough of an impression, either. His lunges don’t always tend to be far-reaching, and the lacking use of his body makes it hard for him to hook around players or intervene with the need for poked tackles that can end up going back the way of his goal. When bypassed in pressing or counterpressing situations, he doesn’t retreat with enough intensity there for his attempted interventions to even get close to the ball, making them appear quite half-assed.

His success rate figures actually don’t show up too poorly – with 53.8% of dribblers tackled (88th percentile) and 0.51 challenges lost (84th percentile) per 90 – but part of that is tied to the simple fact that he doesn’t engage himself in these duels as often as he could. He only challenges 1.11 dribblers (32nd percentile) and wins 0.73 tackles (42nd percentile) on average because of this.

It’s even more staunchly reflected in his aerial figures. Given his previously-discussed avoidance of physical engagement, it’s far from surprising that he loses just 0.56 aerial duels per 90 (81st percentile) but only wins 18.8% (9th percentile) of these duels because he so rarely seeks them out.

Where he doesn’t lack some more intense bite in exchanges, however, is in situations where he’s chasing balls he’s just lost. His counter-pressing often falls victim to the same technical issues as above, except here his head clearly runs a little hotter, resulting in him committing more reckless fouls. It’s certainly one of the less appealing aspects of his defensive makeup but forgivable given his inexperience and the relative infrequency of them.

Nevertheless, the broader picture paints one that is manageable for any top coach. There is enough about the hard yards he’s willing to put in, and the base elements of his technical approach, that he wouldn’t be anything like a liability given his position, and could be moulded into something much more disciplined and robust.

Conclusion

Even in a season of carefully managed minutes – only completing 7 full 90s from 41 appearances – Malick Fofana has put up pretty sensational output, with 17 direct goal contributions in a little over 25 90s for Les Gones. Atop those key figures is this intangible feel that he can produce something in any given match, regardless of his or his team’s performance levels on the day. That is, provided he has somebody to aim for, which hasn’t always been a given, certainly numerically, as he’s occasionally even featured as one of a front two himself.

Whilst his underlying statistics might suggest some level of unsustainability to this kind of output, there’s also an element of technical underperformance that could see things balance out should they improve. The issue, and major question mark, is how staunch a roadblock the matter of improving the quality of his final actions might prove to be.

How he plants his feet and shifts his weight are habits that are improvable but currently well-ingrained, so they hardly seem like overnight fixes. In general, Malick seems like a player who will need a good deal of nurturing to find his very best level, as there’s a more selfish side that needs to be unlocked for him to fully maximise his threat going forwards.

In his game’s current form, he does seem best suited to a more transitional team, where he can be platformed goal-facing more of the time and where his immense speed and control on the run can be the centre of attention.

That said, he could still be hugely impactful for a ball-dominant outfit as is. He would just need some fine-tuning when it comes to receiving in deeper areas, understanding tempo, being that bit more selfish, and providing as a more consistent outlet off the shoulder. The intelligence of his dribbling alone, though, the wherewithal to consistently identify good options, and his speed to be able to arrive late off the blind side could make him a nightmare impact sub versus tiring defensive blocks, at the very least.

Whilst the Belgian talent has played on the left for the vast majority of his time in France, his limitations don’t strike me as ones that should prevent him from being perfectly usable on the right flank too. While playing from the left is still a better option for him, it could theoretically aid his ability to deliver higher quality crosses since he’d be forced to use his stronger foot.

With or without major strides being taken, there’s no reason Malick wouldn’t be able to acquire a move higher up the food chain sooner or later, especially as I’m sure many top coaches would feel they could mould him to their liking. However, there’s certainly no rush to depart Paulo Fonseca’s side, and staying at Lyon for now could suit all parties involved as Malick looks to continue his physical growth and start to rack up regular, full 90-minute displays.

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Thanks for reading. You can find me on Twitter/Bluesky.