The next Kingsley Coman? Why top clubs want Marseille star Luis Henrique

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Scouted by Bayern 

©TM/IMAGO

Back in March, when PSG beat Olympique Marseille 3-1 at the Parc des Princes, the television cameras zoomed in on the stands, revealing that Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany and sporting director Christoph Freund were in attendance to watch the game. What were the two doing there? Earlier this month, Bild revealed that the Bayern bosses were there to scout OM winger Luis Henrique. Transfermarkt understands that the 23-year-old is a Bayern target for the new season. 

Indeed, Bayern were already linked to the player five years ago, but ultimately OM won the race to sign the Brazilian. The German giants aren’t the only club interested.  nter Milan and several  Premier League clubs are also scouting the 23-year-old. In a league in which most of the attention falls on PSG stars, Luis Henrique has been a fascinating prospect. The native of João Pessoa, Brazil, has scored seven goals and six assists in 29 Ligue 1 games this season and increased his market value from €8m to €18m. 

According to an internal scouting report by Bayern, Henrique is considered the best winger in Ligue 1. The Bavarian giants are enticed by Henrique’s ability to play on both wings and also his ability to play as a wing-back. Against PSG, for example, Henrique played on the right flank of a 3-5-2 system. The Transfermarkt database, in the meantime, reveals that Henrique is the most productive when he plays on the left, where he scored four goals and five assists in ten games. 

Luis Henrique: What is his best position?

When using FBREF, what becomes apparent is the huge discrepancy between Luis Henrique as an attacking winger and Luis Henrique as a fullback. Compared to other wingers in any of the top five leagues over the last 365 days, the Brazilian appears average. With 0.22 non-penalty goals per 90 minutes, Henrique ranks just in the 39th percentile and only in the 48th percentile with 3.67 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes. Those stats, however, become more impressive when compared to other wing-backs and fullbacks. There Henrique ranks in the upper 80 to 90 percentiles in all major stats, including 98th percentile in non-penalty goals and 80th percentile in assists per 90 minutes. 

Perhaps the main discrepancy in analyzing Hernique’s game is the debate on his best position. “To be honest, I find it hard to understand why big clubs like Bayern and Inter, who are in the top 10 in the world, are interested in him,” Transfermarkt Content Manager France Joachim Durand said. “If I imagine him at one of those clubs, it’s as a substitute, not a starter.” 

So why are clubs like Bayern and Inter interested? “I’d say that Luis Henrique’s main strength lies in his ability to repeat the effort on one side of the pitch, whether through attacking passes and outbursts or defensive retreats,” Durand said. “On the other hand, despite his good statistics, he is not a very skilful player in the penalty area, although he has improved, particularly this season.” For Bayern, the Brazilian is seen as a replacement for Kingsley Coman. “Once you’ve said that, it actually seems quite logical that De Zerbi has made him a transition player between defense and attack,” Durand said. “In fact, that’s Henrique’s main achievement. Although he was expected to have no game time this season, given Marseille’s summer recruitment and the competition in the attacking sector (Greenwood, Rowe, Maupay), he managed to find a place in the starting eleven from the start of the season, adapting to De Zerbi’s requirements and needs.”

The next Coman? Why Bayern Munich want Luis Henrique

Over the years, the ability to be both defensively sound and strong in the attack has made Coman an invaluable piece in Bayern’s lineup. Indeed, Coman is what they call a typical two-way player in hockey. But Bayern are looking to sell Coman this summer to both restructure the club’s salary situation and make room for new players. That’s where Luis Henrique comes in. 

“I’d say the comparison with Coman is fair enough, in terms of the elements I mentioned above: running, bursting forward, and crosses,” Durand said. “Luis Henrique actually fits in quite well with Bayern’s wingers of recent years: he doesn’t have phenomenal individual stats, but he can feed an axial striker via his crosses or open up space with his appeals, while being disciplined defensively. But I wonder if Bayern couldn’t make a right-back out of him, since that’s also what they need.” The problem for Bayern is that other clubs have also noticed those abilities, and with Henrique available, why would anyone buy the much more expensive Coman?