How’s it going on guys! Welcome back to the ABTFM blog. Today, we are going to do a player analysis on the Lyon’s midfielder – Houssem Aouar. Houssem Aouar is the considered as one of the French wonderkid and he is currently playing in Ligue 1 with Olympique Lyonnais. I have managed him in my Lyon save for almost 2 seasons. He was exceptional in creating chances, amazing while he was on the ball, and he was just an incredible player you would like to have in your team. Without further ado, let’s get started!
Player Info
- Name: Houssem Aouar
- Position: M/AM (C)
- Date of Birth: 30/06/1998
- Value: £9.75M
- Wages: £59K p/w
- Height: 175cm
- Weight: 70kg
- Preferred Foot: Right
Progress
In my first season with Lyon, I’ve won the league title and the French Cup. Houssem Aouar was a part of the winning team and his performance was getting better and better every single day. In terms of his progress, he did extremely well. Let’s have a look at his attributes’ growth.
In summary, his technical ability, mental ability and physical ability has improved significantly in only a season. Some of the key attributes that have improved are dribbling (17), first touch (18), technique (18), anticipation (15), composure (17), decisions (16), vision (18), agility (17), pace (16), and stamina (15). These attributes are very good for an attacking midfielder, especially for the playmaker in your team. None of his attributes has gone down ever since I manage him and most of his attributes are more than 14. He is clearly developing well in my system and I’m sure he is going to be my attacking threat for a long time.
Performance
In my first season with Lyon, Aouar played 45 games in total, started 41 games and subbed on for 4 games. His stats didn’t look good as he only scored 5 goals and provided 9 assists. However, he surely made a lot of difference on the pitch. He made an average of 2.50 dribbles per game. What impressed me the most was his dribbling stat in the continental competition. We faced some great teams in the Champions League last season – RB Leipzig, Ajax and Man City. Aouar had an average of 3.26 dribbles per game which was amazing. His average match rating was 7.23, which is higher than most of the players in my team.
Contract Info
I would like to mention a little bit on the contract. At the start of the game, Aouar is earning a £59,000 per week. I personally think the amount is very reasonable for a 20-year-old wonderkid. Aouar never asked for a new contract in my first season. He was happy with his contract and his playing time. However, during the 2nd season transfer window, some top teams like Arsenal, Man Utd and Man City have showed their interest on signing him. I never wanted to let him go so I decided to offer him a new contract. Hence, he signed a 5 years new contract with us, earning £110,000 per week and he has agreed on his playing time as an Important Player. I am happy to give me such a high wage because his performance speaks for himself. Lyon’s finance isn’t that bad, and he only cost 7.8% of the club’s total wage bill, which is fine for me.
Coach Report
Aouar’s coach report looks absolutely brilliant. Coach summary says he is already a star player in the age of 22 but he could still improve. He has 5 stars potential ability and his current ability is already 5 stars as well. In terms of the pros, he has a list of positives like world class player, very technical, relishes big matches, fairly consistent performer, good balance on the ball make him a skilful player. All these pros are amazing in FM20. The only con he has is he doesn’t have the greatest jumping reach, which is fine by me because his job is not winning headers but playmaking.
Role suggestion
I would suggest playing Houssem Aouar as the centre attacking midfielder rather than centre midfielder. I’ve tried playing him at the centre midfielder position, but the outcome isn’t good enough compared to him playing a more attacking role. The two roles I suggest are Advanced Playmaker and Shadow Striker.
Advanced Playmaker on Attack – With an attacking duty, the Advanced Playmaker will look to run at the defensive line from deeper positions, aiming to craft out crossing or through ball opportunities as he moves into the final third.
Football Manager 2020
Houssem Aouar mostly plays this role under my system. The main objective here is to use Aouar as the link between my striker and the midfielder. FM20 default player instructions for the Advanced Playmaker (A) are take more risks, dribble more and shoot less often. In my opinion, I don’t have to change any player instruction because that’s what I want Aouar to be in my system. Aouar has a very great dribbling, first touch and technique, which makes him a very good candidate to dribble more whenever he is on the ball. His anticipation, composure and decisions are extremely great as well, which allows him to have the ability to take as much risks as possible in the final third.
Shadow Striker on Attack – The Shadow Striker operates as one of the team’s main goalscoring threats. Usually coupled with another forward in support, the shadow striker aggressively pushes up into goalscoring positions as the ball moves into the final third and looks to close down opposing defenders when out of possession.
Football Manager 2020
Playing Aouar as a Shadow Striker could be really interesting. I’ve played him in this role in a couple of matches and I quite enjoyed the way he played. Shadow Striker is not considered as a playmaker anymore but a goalscoring threat. He would stay up high on the pitch whenever possible and pressing the defenders whenever possible. Houssem Aouar would be an interesting choice for Shadow Striker as he has great off the ball, good teamwork and high work rate. His finishing, decisions and composure surely help a lot in the final third as well.
Conclusion
Overall, Houssem Aouar is a young and talented midfielder who you would definitely like to have in your team. He has so much potential and he is just an incredible attacking player. I believe he would be quite easy to sign if you are managing a high reputation club from the top 5 leagues. Just add him into your shortlist and keep an eye on his development. That’s all for today and I hope you enjoyed the analysis of Houssem Aouar. Take care!
ABT Football Manager 