Canadian Premier League Scouting Database – Matteo de Brienne

Matteo de Brienne arrived onto the scene of the Canadian Premier League just last year, coming to life toward the end of the campaign to score one of the most outrageous hits.

The young Canadian would have expected to have more of a role to play this season, but I don’t think anyone expected such a drastic transformation in that role. The 21-year-old has not missed a minute of action so far this campaign, playing every single match as the team’s left-back, a role he never played in 2021.

Valour have made a habit of converting players into left-back from other roles, and Brett Levis made the position his own as the best left-back in the league last season. Despite being new to the position, De Brienne might be even better. He’s been that outstanding for the Winnipeg club. With that, we analyze how and why De Brienne has done such a great job this campaign in completely unfamiliar territory.

ATTACKING PRINCIPLES

Matteo De Brienne has a great eye for space, often making underlapping and overlapping runs around PJ Williams. This is the key feature for any player operating in the ‘Wing-Back’ role. They must not only be dynamic and dangerous when driving with the ball at their feet, but astute about the positions they take up off-the-ball.

Since PJ Williams will often prefer to receive the ball close to the touchline, De Brienne’s made a particular habit of making underlapping runs through the left-half-spaces, before delivering crosses into the box.

Improvements have also been made with his progression of the ball through forward passing, and he’s keenly aware of the need to develop his right-foot. He’s gone from a 66.7% success rate on progressive passes in 2022 to 80.2% this time around – one of the top numbers within his position.

Perhaps most fun from a viewer’s standpoint, he’s perfectly encapsulated the way that Brett Levis just ran with the ball last season, bulldozing his way through opposition defenses. The Valour man has won 63% of his attacking duels this campaign, which ranks well ahead of some of the other standout ‘Wing-Backs’ in the league like Jose Escalante (55%) and Zachary Fernandez (53%).

Even more encouragingly, De Brienne’s been given partial set-piece responsibilities this season, particularly in whipping left-footed crosses in from the right corner. He’s done so to tremendous effect, creating some wonderful chances from that responsibility.

Combine that crossing ability with an eye for goal, and you suddenly get a player that perfectly encapsulates the key functions of a wing-back. So while the positional move seemed out of left-field, it’s wonderfully complemented De Brienne’s vast skillset.

The one piece of advice for De Brienne to consider would be learning the moments to slow the game down, and stay calm under pressure. De Brienne’s energy is non-stop, and it can often result in frantic decisions being made when finding himself in trouble. That will likely come with time, especially as he learns how to react so close to the touchline in his new role.

Either way, De Brienne deserves so much credit for the way he’s seamlessly transitioned into a new role, and completely made that role his own in all phases of the game. Perhaps most impressively of all, on the defensive end of the spectrum.

DEFENSIVE PRINCIPLES

While evidently still learning his trade and figuring out where to be, De Brienne has never looked out of touch with his new position. He often narrows his positioning as a starting place to compact the field and cut out central options closer to goal, before quickly reacting as the ball shifts over to a player in his zone.

The quickness of his attacking moves transfers to his ability to quickly snatch available space and recover position. No player in our 35-player CANPL database has made more possession-adjusted interceptions than the 21-year-old this season (11.8). The same goes for successful defensive actions (13.8), which also happens to be backed up by a decent duelling rate close to 60% out of possession.

Whenever he finds himself the wrong side, he’s great at recovering that position to make the challenge. In fact timing has been another strong-suit of De Brienne, coming up with some massive slide tackles at the exact right moment.

That physicality also hasn’t ended up manifesting in the wrong ways so far, with the 21-year-old only picking up one yellow card this campaign. His work ethic is tremendous, his physicality holds together, and he clearly has the right levels of anticipation and reading of the game to fulfill his defensive responsibilities. As he then grows in his understanding of where to be in different moments and how to balance those attacking and defensive responsibilities together, we might be witnessing the beginning blocks toward building one of the best Canadian left-backs around.

Massive credit to Phillip Dos Santos for making such a stellar move in changing De Brienne’s role and complementing his strengths. But De Brienne deserves equal plaudits for his efforts.

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What do I do for Canadian Premier League clubs?

-> Opposition Analysis
-> Scouting & Recruitment
-> 1-on-1 performance coaching

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