Nordi Mukiele — Scouting Profile
A football scouting profile of the solid 22-year old Red Bull Leipzig and France U21 defender Nordi Mukiele
22-year old defender Nordi Mukiele signed for RedBull Leipzig from Montpellier for €16 million in the Summer 2018 transfer window. In the last year and a half, his estimated market value has risen by about €10 million. This move came after spending a short stint in Ligue 1 while making a name for himself at Stade Lavallois in the French third division. Furthermore, Mukiele has earned a handful of caps for the France U21 team as well as national teams from the U16 level upward. He has not however made his debut for the senior national team as of the time of publication.
Mukiele earned his reputation at Montpellier and Stade Lavallois as a solid right-center defender in a three-man defense and a right wing-back playing with four defenders. He has a knack for making tackles just at the right time and stepping up to make an interception before an opponent can break the defensive lines. His defensive attributes are what top clubs have come to look for in the modern center back. The timing of his tackles looks good and he has also worked on improving his accurate distribution of the ball from the back line to start dangerous counter-attacks with just one or two touches. He has good size at 1.87m/6'2" and speed, helping to make him a desirable figure in most defensive set-ups similar to recent Manchester United signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Ignoring the lack of direct offensive production from goals/assists, it is easy to see from the highlight video that he can contribute to offensive moves while playing further away from goal on his team’s right side; this is a bit unique when comparing him to the modern fullback/wingback like Marcelo, Alba, Walker, or even Dani Alves. The heatmap above shows his average position for the match against SC Paderborn earlier this season. It is similar to the average of his positions also so far this season, balanced more toward his defensive half and very far against the touchline.
The modern fullback in some formations has shown to be capable of making strong runs down the wide channel while other times cutting in as the inverted fullback to play off of a wide forward and the interior midfielder(s). Mukiele does not seem to fit these characteristics as of yet while he manages to hold his own in Leipzig. This does not mean that he cannot dribble well, just that he plays in a less traditional role that what fans have seen from other top modern fullbacks causing him to dribble less than others. He has averaged just .7 successful dribbles per game while averaging .6 key passes per game. The highlight video also shows his ability to cross well, although he does not often find himself in these positions with Leipzig.
The video above highlights a number of his skills and positional tendencies. The video also demonstrates a characteristic of his play at Montpellier that has not carried over to his more recent performances in Germany. While he has played as a right-center defender in a three-man defense, he mostly plays as a deep right back for RedBull Leipzig under the guidance of the brilliant tactician, Julian Nagelsmann. He is also fortunate enough to play alongside some of the best young defenders in Europe. Much has been said about Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konaté, the two dominant center-backs helping the club to a first-place position before Christmas 2019. Mukiele partners the Germans Klostermann and Halstenberg and captain Orban to round out the main starters with young Ethan Ampadu also featuring since joining from Chelsea on loan. Partnering with these high-caliber players definitely makes his defensive duties more manageable but it should be noted that the average age of Leipzig’s defenders (as of the date of publication) is just 21.36!
Mukiele has featured in 11 out of 17 Bundesliga matches for Leipzig this season and has played in all but 1 of the Champions League fixtures. His best performances according to WhoScored so far this year were against Mainz, Zenit St. Petersburg, Paderborn, Union Berlin, and Eintracht Frankfurt earlier in the season. Mukiele received lower marks against tougher opponents like Benfica, Bayern Munich, Schalke, and Lyon.
The screenshot above highlights his game in a straight-forward infographic. He does not shoot or dribble often but is generally accurate in his passing— at 87% for the match against Frankfurt and averaging just about 80% in all games this season (compared to 73% last season). Looking at the numbers, he is very similar to recent Manchester United signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka. His offensive, defensive, and passing statistics are almost identical with slightly more aerial duels won per game, slightly less dribbles completed but also slightly fewer dispossessions per game (likely due to fewer attempted take-ons). Compare the two in the images below:
Potential and Predictions
Nordi Mukiele — Potential: 7.6/10. While Mukiele has made his way into the French youth national teams and regularly features for RedBull Leipzig, I do not see him making his way into a world-class club like Manchester City, United, Liverpool, Barcelona or Madrid in the immediate future. Mukiele succeeded at Montpellier and is doing well in Germany. He is also surrounded by some of the best defenders in the league and a solid squad in front of him not to mention he is learning from one of the most exciting managers in world football. His playing style resembles Wan-Bissaka but his lack of caps for the French national team and unique positional role might put off top English and French clubs. I see him spending more time in Germany before making the jump to a world-class club in 2022/23. He has fared well in the German Bundesliga and UEFA Champions League against some of the best teams in Europe and I do not see his €25 million estimated market value staying this low for long.
Watch for a rebuilding Arsenal, a new-look Tottenham under Jose Mourinho, or a club like Lyon to swoop in to strengthen their back line within the next two years for a fee between €35–42 million. With the success of Trippier at Atlético Madrid, manager Diego Simeone might keep this young French right-back in mind to provide another solid anchor on the right side of the Atleti defense.
Thank you for reading! I hope to share more scouting profiles, among other articles, in the near future. If you have questions about how players like Lisandro Martínez at Ajax or Erling Braut Håland at Red Bull Salzburg are signed and scouted, check out my article series! Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments with me here and via email at schmidtker8@gmail.com.
P.S. I might present this scouting profile in Spanish and/or Portuguese. If this would be of interest to any reader, please let me know!
