Denis Suarez: Scout Report

We are very much aware that the Spanish are the usual suspects when it comes to unearthing fantastic talent, and Denis Suarez could be one of the next Spanish stars to feature for all the youth levels, and then eventually make the big step up to the Spain first-team.

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You may not be familiar with Denis Suarez, but Manchester City fans certainly are, with many (including myself), desperate to see him given a run of games in the first team. At the moment, Suarez is in between the EDS and first-team sides; he seems to be leaps and bounds ahead of other players when playing for the EDS side, but he’s been granted little time to impress on the scene of the first-team. Perhaps now with Manuel Pellegrini in charge, Suarez will be presented with more opportunities to showcase his talents against bigger and better players.

Suarez arrived at City in 2011 from Spanish side Celta Vigo, with the blues fighting off fierce competition from Barcelona to land the young Spaniard. He made his debut for the first-team in the Tour of North America in the summer of 2011, coming on as a substitute and slotting home a penalty in the shoot-out. On the international scene, Suarez has featured for Spain at a number of levels, most recently in the U-20 squad at the U-20 World Cup in Turkey. He has also played for both the U-18 and U-19 sides.

Though he hasn’t appeared too frequently for the first-team side, Suarez has been a regular in the reserve side, with him becoming a key man for the EDS over the past couple of seasons. In City’s 2011-12 title winning season, Suarez has been awarded the club’s Young Player of the Year award; an award duly deserved. In that same season, Suarez made his competitive debut for the Blues in the League Cup tie away for Wolves, where he replaced Samir Nasri with just over 20 minutes remaining.

Suarez didn’t see any more action with the first-team that season, so had to be content with playing regularly for the EDS side. Roberto Mancini did great things with City, but he never seemed confident enough to really give his young players a run in the side; something Suarez has been affected by. That prevented him from making the step-up to the first-team and allowing him to express himself at a higher level. Last season was another season in which Suarez was left frustrated in the Reserves, making just the one appearance in a Capital One Cup defeat to Aston Villa. Now with Pellegrini in charge, there is renewed hope from both City fans and the player himself, that Suarez will force his way into the first-team picture.

It will be interesting to see if and when Denis Suarez gets his first-team opportunity. His only real domestic league experience remains with the Celta Vigo B team in the lower Spanish divisions, where he played 12 games. He also managed a couple of appearances for the City side in the NextGen Series the last two campaign, scoring 3 goals in 9 games.

Suarez played an important role as a part of the Spanish U-20 side at the World Cup in Turkey, making 4 appearances, starting 3 of those games.

Style, Strengths and Weaknesses

Having developed an interest in the youth academy at City, particularly the EDS, I have had the privilege of watching Suarez on a number of occasions and I am a great admirer of his. From the first time I watched him play, it was evident to see he had dollops of ability and talent and it’s still quite remarkable how he’s still in his teenage years, as he seems so mature both on and off the pitch.

Although he primarily operates as an attacking midfielder/playmaker, he is also very much able to be deployed on the flanks, mainly on the left-hand side, where he is able to fulfil the role of an inverted winger and cut in side; similar to how Viktor Fischer fulfils that role. The way he plays his game is relatively similar to David Silva; they both boast exceptional vision and awareness, as well as the ability to cleverly slip a team-mate through with a delightful pass. The only significant difference is that Silva is left-footed, whereas Suarez’s strongest foot is his right, other than that Suarez is quite reminiscent of Silva, and there are plenty of shades of him in the 19 year-old.

As I have compared Suarez to Silva, you can imagine his best abilities and qualities. He runs at a great pace with the ball, has an almost impeccable first-touch and has excellent close control. Suarez also possesses the ability to unlock defences with incisive passes, as well as a very good understanding of making space for himself, even in confined spaces. Ironically, one of the things I have noticed that Suarez has a tendency to use the Outside of his Boot; much to this website’s appreciation! An example of this is his tremendous pass against Chile U-20 in a warm-up game for the U-20 World Cup, where he carved open the defence with the most accurate of passes using nothing else except the outside of his right boot.

Moreover, he is also capable of popping up with goals when required and is usually quite composed when one-on-one with the goalkeeper. In addition to this, Suarez is also a very good penalty taker and is the regular spot-kick taker for the EDS side. He really is quite reliable from the spot.

Of course, every player has their weaknesses and so that applies to Suarez as well. For starters he doesn’t always seem to be too comfortable using his left-foot, but with practice and coaching that can all change. Another weakness of his is that he offers little protection to his full-back when playing in a wide position; this can be common in young players as they are naive and are still only learning the game. Suarez must learn from this because if he wants to showcase his talents at a high level, he must be able to contribute defensively as well as offensively.

The final weakness I will elaborate on is his decision making, with him sometimes making the wrong choice of whether to shoot, cross, pass etc. Yet again this is normal for young players, but as he develops he will be sure to improve that aspect of his game.

Transfer Situation

There has been a host of Spanish clubs linked with a move for Suarez, most notably Sevilla and Espanyol. There was also talk of Suarez being used as a make-weight in the deal for Isco, who of course joined Real Madrid instead. Although he wasn’t particularly fancied by Roberto Mancini, I suspect that he is in part of Manuel Pellegrini’s plans, especially with him being handed a start in City’s first pre-season game of the summer. Interesting to note that Denis Suarez is under contract with Promoesport BCN; the same agency that engineered Iago Aspas and Luiz Alberto’s moves to Liverpool while also having players like Felipe Melo and Diego Lopez in their client list.

The talent is certainly there to see, so I would find it hard to see why City would let him go on a permanent deal. A loan move would perhaps be most beneficial to Suarez; it enables him to get used to playing regularly at a higher level and used to the physical challenges he will face in the Premier League. I sincerely hope that he stays at City for the coming season and gets some minutes in the Premier League. He could be a potential replacement for David Silva in years to come, so City would be foolish to get rid of him.

UPDATE: Denis Suarez joined Barcelona.

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