Scout Report — Bersant Celina
Bersant Celina is a Kosovan international currently playing in Ligue 1 for recently relegated Dijon & is a player of interest to League One Ipswich Town. This is appears an extremely unlikely move on face value but it is understood that there is interest from Celina’s camp to move back to Ipswich where he spent the 17/18 season on loan. This would be a huge statement of intent from the new owners & Mark Ashton if it was to go through especially considering the big money that will be involved in the deal. Celina is a superb player that in my opinion is easily of upper Championship quality & in this scout report I will go through his data profile, rate his attributes before giving detailed analysis of him from watching him play.
Data Dashboard —
Celina’s main strengths is his chance creation, his xA, shot assists & key passes all rank higher than an average Ligue 1 attacking midfielder. His smart passes (a creative and penetrative pass that attempts to break the opposition’s defensive lines to gain a significant advantage in attack) & through passes per 90 are lower than average however in his seasons at Swansea, Celina ranked as one of the best AM’s for those stats & from watching him play he likes to play these types of passes. His goal threat numbers are very low, he didn’t score a single goal in Ligue 1 last season & underperformed his xG by 2.24. His goal-xG perfromance per 90 was one of the worst in the league. At Swansea, Celina wasn’t much of a goalscorer either & also underperformed his xG in both seasons. This is a big sample size & shows his finishing is on the poor side.
Celina’s defensive contributions are low which may be reflected in Dijon’s style defensively last season however his defensive numbers were also low in his two seasons at Swansea.
In Possession —
Celina is a strong passer generally & has a wide range of passes that he can execute. His shorter passing is good & he plays them at a quick tempo, allowing them to nip between defenders easily. Sometimes the weight of his passes is too much as a result of his sharp passing but the accuracy is usually good enough. His sharper passing can sometimes put his teammate under more pressure as they have to take one more touch to get the ball out of his feet. Therefore his passing communication (setting up the next move for his teammate before the ball has reached them) is generally made from his movement after passing rather than the pass.
His mid range/chipped passing is really good & shows his forward thinking brain & flair in the final 3rd. Something that we have seen in the Euro’s this summer is little chipped passes into the box from Spain’s CM Pedri. This can be chipped passes in behind for strikers to run onto, chipped passes to get FB’s into cutback positions or chipped passes into the back post for a winger/FB to attack. This is really useful to Ipswich as we have a variety of runners in the side. Both our strikers, Norwood & Bonne both like to vacate in the left channel & look to spin in behind, both of RB Vincent Young & our RW Wes Burns are good at arriving in the box late & whoever our starting LB is will look to get beyond.
Examples of this type of pass are below:
Celina can switch play & naturally drifting to the left side he can cut in on his right foot & play across his body to switch it. This isn’t something he does often though as most of his actions are around the box.
Combination play is something that Celina is excellent at, he has a really good understanding with his LB & when playing infield looks to combine by playing short zippy passes & making a run after playing it. He is always aware of when the FB is overlapping & often finds him with a neat reverse pass but his awareness of the run means he can use it to distract defenders & then cut inside. He can then unleash a shot or send a cross into the back post.
When Celina drops deep he is always looking to get the ball forwards, he often attempts 3rd line passes (passes that go between the defensive line) & as a result his ball progression is good. The majority of these 3rd line passes are passes in behind to an on running winger/striker rather than passes between the lines.
Another impressive part of Celina’s game is his ability to know when to release the ball. From watching him I noticed how he always likes to engage an opposition player before passing, this creates space elsewhere for a teammate to exploit. He often receives back to goal & sometimes puts himself in areas where an opposition player is nearby to receive the ball & therefore attract the opposition player to press before playing a simple 1st time pass backwards. This may seem like negative play from watching but it has positive effects. His decision making is marked down in the end because sometimes he can get too confident after beating a player 1v1 & take a shot that is really low percentage or tries to take too many players on at once & ends up dribbling into a coldersack.
Celina’s control of the ball & dribbling is once again really good, he has a secure 1st touch of the ball which allows him to setup his next action. This good control allows him to be really good in tight spaces. When under pressure from behind he isn’t as good due to his lean body shape not being able to hold the ball as well. Celina loves to carry the ball when he receives it & his pace makes him really good at dribbling over large spaces which makes him a big threat on the counter attack. He is excellent when he gets 1v1 with an opposition player & has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.
Another skillset which makes Celina standout for me is his ability to change pace. The clip below I absolutely love:
He initially dribbles at full pace before slowing down to get himself separation from the defenders giving him more time to make a decision of what to do with the ball before accelerating again.
Changing pace when dribbling allows you more time to evaluate the situation & more time for your teammates to help support you if on your own. As well as getting initial separation from defenders to give you space slowing down can invite defenders to pressurise you therefore leaving space for teammates to exploit.
Off the ball (when his team have the ball) —
Celina generally likes to be the main man & centre of play & this is reflected in his ratings for receiving the ball. He is eager to receive it, always looking to find space between the lines & as spoken about previously wants the ball even when marked to create space elsewhere.
Celina doesn’t tend to drop deep & be behind the ball so is always looking to receive ahead of play, get on the half turn & drive forwards. Receiving on the half turn is something Celina excels at, he has a really positive touch & always looks to go forwards. In the video below all of this is shown; he is eager to receive the ball, positions himself between two opposition players well to receive & then takes on the half turn, looks up & plays a neat ball in behind.
His ability to shift his body positioning when receiving is really good & seems to almost always have a comfortable control after turning.
His movement off the ball is dynamic & is able to support in various ways. Celina likes to stretch play & run in behind as well as support beneath the ball. He likes to support beneath the ball when it is in wide areas, an area which he loves to move into. In particular the left hand side. Despite this direct movement Celina’s involvement in build up play around the box means he often doesn’t get into the box as much as he should when the opposition are sat in a deeper block.
Final 3rd —
Another one of Celina’s main attributes is his ball striking & shooting from range. I have already mentioned how his decision making is sometimes poor when outside the box & he gets tempted to shoot instead of retaining the ball however something Ipswich have lacked in previous seasons & lack in this current squad barring Lee Evans is the ability to shoot from range. The ability to get a goal from absolutely nothing & change the game is huge in those tight games where you aren’t playing particularly well. He has a really nice technique when shooting from range, he loves to hit the ball in between his instep & laces & goes for power from range rather than placement. This often means a lot of his longer distance shots go over. Celina’s technique when finishing is okay but his composure in front of goal is poor & he snatches at his chances a lot & occasionally rushes his shots when he should perhaps wait a bit longer before pulling the trigger. He has scored some lovely goals before & getting that consistency into his shooting is something that needs to be worked on as he clearly has the ability to score more goals.
In the final 3rd Celina is a really creative player, he excels at creating openings that then lead to a chance without him getting credited to creating the chance with an assist. This shows how he is often the centre point in the play which then creates space for his teammates to play that killer final ball.
Celina is a decent crosser of the ball although it is not a major part of his game. He has good variety to his crossing, able to get to the byline & stand up a cross, get into positions to cut the ball back & use the run of his FB to the cut in & dink a cross in.
Defending —
Defensively there are worries for Celina, one of the main reasons for his lack of starts when on loan at Ipswich in the 17/18 campaign & perhaps the reason Steve Cooper didn’t fancy him at Swansea was because of his defensive contribution to the game. His data defensively is extremely poor however I didn’t feel it looked *as* bad as the data when I watched him play.
Celina seems eager to press & is quite quick to press. He mostly presses after losing the ball showing a determination to win it back after making a mistake, a good attitude to have rather than some players who get frustrated at themselves when losing the ball rather than trying to win it back. His angles when pressing aren’t as good as his speed to press & that is an area of his game he needs to improve on. He rarely looks to cut off passing lanes & there isn’t much of a change of pace, he just seems to run. This isn’t an intelligent way to press & is probably why he then doesn’t track back because he has used a considerable amount of energy beforehand. He is quite aggressive meaning he dives in a lot to win the ball & due to not being a good defender is easily passed.
Physical attributes —
Celina is very quick both on the ball when dribbling & off it when running in behind or contesting for a loose ball. His acceleration & ability to change direction quickly is probably better than overall top speed & is something that he’ll use a lot more. In the air Celina is poor however that isn’t his game & if played out wide isn’t something that is need too much. He can be pushed off the ball easily & when facing back to goal isn’t too strong at holding onto the ball however he adapts to this by playing it quickly in these situations. Celina has a great centre of gravity that allows him to shift & change direction extremely quick.
