Aidan Daniels burst onto the scene of the Canadian Premier League just last season, primarily operating as a ‘Box to Box Midfielder’ for Stephen Hart‘s team. After starting the season brightly, Hart didn’t have enough trust in Daniels to drive the team forward in a Joao Morelli-less team. Despite his versatility to play across the pitch, the former TFC academy product started just 16 matches in 2022. But flashes of brilliance were there for all to see, constantly taking the game to the opposition through his dynamic dribbling and tactical intelligence.
This season, Patrice Gheisar has fully trusted Daniels to be the star player in his attack, ensuring that he can give the ball-playing wizard a free role off the right of his 4-2-3-1. This has allowed Daniels to flourish, where he’s been one of the undeniable stars of the season in 2023. Here is what makes the 24-year-old one of the top prospects coming out of the Canadian Premier League this season.
DRIVE & CONTROL ON THE BALL
Aidan Daniels is a dominant 1v1 dribbler. He’s excellent when receiving the ball in any area of the pitch, and loves to exude both a mix of speedy drive and skillful poise in possession. This is essential for any young player looking to dominate their 1v1 situations. They must be capable not only speeding up and using their pace to burn 1v1 like William Akio; but equally capable slowing the game down and injecting some skill into the mix.
This is where Daniels thrives. In fact, he’s probably the most clever dribbler in the league. He loves to disguise shots before playing a killer pass or rounding the defender.
This is his key trademark as a dribbler, yet it’s still fooling defenders every single time. We know he can strike from distance, and defenders don’t want to let him. But they don’t realize that nine times out of ten, he’s just toying with the defender.
He’s also exceptional at the little drops of the shoulder with his back to the defender. The defender thinks he’s about to take a touch and hold up the play. But instead, he’s ready to quickly shift it past his man.
Then once he’s past the defender, Daniels possesses an underrated speed to continue pushing the ball beyond the defender’s reach. It’s common for the 24-year-old to receive the ball in space, do something clever, and then drive his team through the open space.
As an ‘Inverted Winger’ coming off the right, this magic can happen in central areas, especially in helping his team lead transitional moments. By carving open space through the centre, Daniels opens up more passing opportunities for his team.
But he’s equally capable taking defenders on in the wide areas, and then floating in a cross with the right weight. Despite the use of the word ‘float’ there, the HFX man tends to be more of a powerful crosser. But he keeps his passes low, ensuring a greater chance of connection. Fizzing it in with greater power ensures the keeper has less time to react to his crosses, especially when finding players across goal at the back-post. That leads us to Daniels’ creativity in the final third, one of his key assets.
CREATIVITY IN THE FINAL THIRD
Aidan Daniels has contributed to 6 goals in his 19 appearances, at 0.4 goal contributions per 90. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Marco Bustos‘ low tally last season, despite always dominating his 1v1 duels and creating chances for fun. Daniels has created 1.06 key passes per 90 according to Wyscout (4th most in CPL).
What’s perhaps most impressive about his play and why he creates so many key passes is the weight behind his passes. Pulling off difficult through passes is a difficult task, and you wouldn’t fault an attacking midfielder for completing less than 50% of their through passes. Aidan Daniels has completed 85.7% of his through passes this campaign, constantly creating chances in between the gaps of defenders.
He’s not afraid to just play a pass into open space, even if it asks his teammates to step on the gas pedal. His perceptions of space are simply top notch, and that weight of pass often means his passes slow into the space just in time for the attacker to burst onto the ball.
What I’ve also enjoyed about Daniels this season has been his fluidity of movement across the pitch in that free role. He can be seen dropping all the way toward their back-three build to get on the ball, and nicely reads spaces through the centre of the pitch to receive.
He wants to be the creator of the team rather than the man banging in the goals, and this is a great asset for an ‘Inverted Winger’ to have in the modern game. All of the top teams in the CPL play with at least one ‘Inverted Winger’, and it’s a trend that extends to just about every club in the world at the moment. With that, the 24-year-old should be on the radar of all clubs around the level of MLS teams. He’s been one of the best players for HFX in their stunning rise this season, and should be in with a shout of the Team of the Season come the end of the year.
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