The Stats Scout

Sebastiano Esposito – Bio

Age: 17years 6months

Nationality: Italy

Birth place: Castellammare Di Stabia

Current club: Inter (Internazional)

Position: Forward

Sebastiano Esposito Europa League squad photo

Sebastiano Esposito broke onto the professional scene earlier this season (2019/20) for Antonio Conte’s Inter side. The exciting youngster made his debut against Genoa at the San Siro in Inter’s 4-0 win, a game in which Esposito also scored his debut goal from the penalty spot.

Tricky, feisty, determined and highly skilful Sebastiano comes into the public eye at a time when his side are experiencing something of a monumental charge for domestic silverware after sometime without it. The young Italian has talent in abundance and is fearless in his use of his abilities. Antonio Conte has made some epic changes to Internazional since he took the reigns at the start of the season, including a plentiful amount of new signings. But, through all the changes Esposito has managed to still force his professional debut at the tender age of 17 years-old, whilst also maintaining his place in the side since.

A raw and unnerved talent, the pacy attacker will be looking to continue his learning process from his teammates including Romelu Lukaku, Lataro Martinez, Alexis Sanchez and more recently Christian Eriksen. It’s a player base of sheer ability and one Esposito will not fail to tap into and develop his own skills set and progress his game further. Being only 17, Sebastiano Esposito has a wealth of time on his hands to become and fulfil the expectations that already sit beside his name.

Sebastiano Esposito celebrating his debut goal

The youngsters playing style is very direct and forward thinking. He has an unrivalled determination and has already proven he has an engine to go a full 90 minutes at a high intensity. Touch control, passing and link up play is something that so far appears to be very natural and although work still needs to be done to refine his skills in this area, he’s starting the journey at a fairly advanced level. Esposito’s main traits, however, come as a result of his pace and attitude. Having witnessed the few games he has taken part in, it’s evident that Seba, as he is affectionately known by his teammates, has a desire to chase every loose ball and make it his. His presence around the front line must make Romelu Lukaku’s life so much easier as the new boy on the block does the vast majority of the running yards. His pace has created numerous opportunities already as defenders opt to chop him down as he almost breezes past them before they’ve had chance to react. Esposito is a frightening proposition for even the most experienced of defenders.

At an age when the vast majority of up and coming footballers are being loaned out by their clubs, the Nerazzurri opted to make use of Esposito’s potential themselves. Having played at the clubs academy for the last 5 years (since the age of 12), the young forwards development has reportedly been “consistent and ever progressive” according to Primavera coach Armando Madonna.

Sebastiano Esposito comes from a football mad family. His father, Agostino Esposito, is a former footballer himself having played for Napoli’s youth teams and playing professionally in Serie B for the majority if his career. The football doesn’t stop there though as Sebastiano’s older brother Salvatore Esposito currently plays for Brescia, whilst his younger brother Francesco Esposito also plays for Inter’s youth teams. It’s a sure fire thing that football is life to the Esposito family and the three brothers have made plenty of sacrifices already in their young careers to achieve their dreams.

Left to right: Sebastiano, Salvatore and Pio Esposito.

Inter fought off various clubs to sign Sebastiano to his very first professional contract. PSG, Chelsea, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Everton and Barcelona where all reportedly interested in signing the 17-year-old if Inter didn’t make their move 3 months ago.

Sebastiano’s Stats model is to follow this article.

Alessandro Tripaldelli – Bio

Age: 20years 11months

Nationality: Italy

Birth place: Naples

Current club: Sassuolo – Loan to Crotone

Position: Left Back

Italy is enjoying somewhat of a surge in young talent coming through their ranks. Serie A clubs are investing heavily in their youth academies as the clubs continue to try and compete with the financial spend elsewhere across Europe, and view their academies as a cheaper but just as effective alternative. Alessandro Tripaldelli is the next young Italian footballer creating his own pathway.

A 20-year-old left back, Alessandro Tripaldelli has some really strong defensive qualities. The current Italian u21 product is out on loan at Serie B side Crotone due to a wealth of players in his position at his parent club Sassuolo. The loan move which took place in the January transfer window just gone was thought to be a strange one and almost a step back for someone as talented as Tripaldelli, but game time is important at this stage of his career. The short term loan until the end of the season could be an ideal tonic to the young left backs current game time drought.

Tripaldelli playing for Italy at the u21’s European Championships

Although Tripaldelli has hit a bump in the road in his career, it is likely to be used as an opportunity to progress by the determined defender. His appetite and hunger to win the ball in games he has played has been exciting to see. He is a driven and passionate player who has a real ability to get forward, whilst his defensive traits have progressed nicely in the last couple of seasons too.

Alessandro was pretty much a product or Juventus’ youth system having played most of his team years for the club. He captain Juventus at u17’s level and the ages lower, whilst also manufacturing appearances for his countries youth teams too. Eventually, Sassuolo pounced when Juventus stalled over a new deal.

Injuries have been something that have played a part in Tripaldelli’s current struggle, although none have been of any significant length of time, they have hampered the young left back from holding down a place at his parent club. His loan to Crotone, a team that was relegated from Serie A in 2017/18, will be a certain platform for him to get back to his best.

Tripaldelli playing for Juventus u18’s in 2018

The playing style of Tripaldelli is a little Unorthodox and one that may confuse some potential suitors. He is aggressive with his attacking football and looks to beat players and gain yards and win the 1 percenters for his side in crucial areas, however his defensive style is a little more patient and relies heavily on his starting position a lot of the time. When I began analysing Alessandro’s game back in early 2019, I noticed a certain strong ability to make and time his tackles well. He waits for the perfect opportunity to make his move and forces the attacker into a dead end by holding firm with pushing his opponent down the touchline, rather than allowing them to come inside. This indicates his positioning is good and his body angles are correct to control situations like the one mentioned above. He does, however, have struggles with his distribution and final balls, something that is a certain area he will need to improve on if he is to make something of his youth international reputation.

This might not be the most obvious case of an up and coming star, but Alessandro Tripaldelli’s stats in the games he has played indicates he has what he takes to make moves in the game.

Alessandro’s stat model will follow this article.

Brandon Williams – Bio

Age: 19years 5months

Nationality: England

Birth Place: Harpurhey, Manchester

Current Club: Manchester United

Position: Left/wing Back

A story out of nowhere is exactly how to describe the emergence of Brandon Williams. A player that didn’t even appear on Manchester United’s pre-season tour to Dubai at the start of the current season, Williams has forged his own path to United’s first team. Looking at his stats, will help you understand just how it’s happened.

Brandon Williams is pretty much the perfect tonic to Manchester United’s ‘big club issues’. Meaning that whilst the fans feel distanced from issues relating to players such as Paul Pogba and previously Romelu Lukaku, a reminder of the ‘born and bread’ type players that fans have resonated to in years gone by still exist in Brandon Williams. He is a small piece of Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs in the way he is as footballer, he’s the kind of player that fans at Old Trafford have missed since the above mentioned players called time on their careers.

Williams has a swagger, yet a rough and ready image when he’s on the field. His work rate is ridiculous and something that opposition wingers have so far struggled to overcome when facing up to the youngster, he runs more than most and it counts for a lot at Manchester United. The England u19 International comes with a die hard attitude which is evident with almost everything he does on a pitch, be it his surging runs forward, his last ditched and well timed tackles at the back or his aggression when an opposition player goes toe-to-toe with him. It’s a very strong image to be able to have, as Manchester United is a club that needs that kind of player to succeed, they need that level of honesty and desire from a certain amount of players on the pitch.

It’s not just Williams’ attitude or body language that are the things that has made his emergence in the first team at Old Trafford successful though. The boy comes with a strong skills set ranging from tackling, to positioning, through to transitioning very well and driving forward with the ball, Williams has shown a degree of the skills required to be successful at the highest level. Ultimately, Williams has took his opportunity to play at Left Back for United through injuries to Luke Shaw and the initial injury and subsequent sale of Ashley Young. He’s had to be patient and see through the traffic that was in front of him, something he has done well. However, since Luke Shaw has returned from injury, Williams has kept his left back competitor out of the side based on his almost man of the match worthy displays in games at Sheffield United, twice against Wolves in the FA Cup and in the league and against Burnley away from home too.

The stats model will follow this article, but when you get the chance to read it you’ll see just how prolific Williams has been for Manchester United and just why he has kept an England international in Luke Shaw out of the side. He has a high number of successful ground duels won, almost all of his attempted defensive tackles have favoured him and passing and chance creation in the final third, all though not prolific, is heading in the right direction. An area for Brandon to look at improving would be his decision making in the final third, whilst it’s not bad at the moment he somewhat opts for a conservative option. We have seen through his model a tendency to pass side ways or backwards when he has the ball in an attacking position. He has aborted a fair percentage of attacking ground duels, which doesn’t mean he has lost possession but hasn’t followed through with attacking the opposition player when in possession of the ball. As time goes on, Brandon will look to refine his skills and build on areas such as his attacking standards, he has the ability to do this which is the most important thing.

Brandon Williams after his Europa League debut

It’s without doubt that we think Brandon will have a very high chance of gaining a permanent place in Manchester United’s side in the next season or so. We rate him highly at TSS and believe if his progression continues at the same rate as we’ve so far seen, he could well be the best left back in the league at some point in his career. We don’t often opt for big statements such as the one above, but our stats indicate a strong and progressive movement towards model’s of players that have made a success of their careers. it’s encouraging to see such development and indicates that Manchester United don’t need to heavily rely upon bringing talent to the club, as players like Williams sit in the background waiting for their chance.

In summary, Brandon Williams is a shining light in another wise trying season for his club. He has been burdened with a lot of responsibility by his manager and has coped tremendously well so far. It’s very early days in his professional career and Williams may now see his game time reduced slightly as Shaw is match fit once more, but he has more than made his mark and it certainly won’t be the last we hear of the young left back.

Brandon’s stats model will be available following this article. A link will appear here when it is live on our site.