Denis Zakaria Scouting Report: Analyzing The Playing Style Of Chelsea's New (And Only) DM

The 25-year-old Swiss midfielder arrived from Juventus on loan on deadline day. What options does he offer to Thomas Tuchel?

After a frantic deadline day flurry during which Chelsea made enquiries for Ajax’s Edson Álvarez, PSV’s Ibrahim Sangaré and even put in a shock £50m bid for Southampton’s Romeo Lavia, the Blues concluded their search for a midfielder with a loan deal for Juventus’ Denis Zakaria. The 25-year-old Swiss international was once dubbed “The New Patrick Vieira” due to his similarities in physical characteristics and playing style to the iconic French midfielder, but has struggled for form and confidence since his move to Turin. So was a deadline day move for an immensely talented midfielder short of form and confidence a panic acquisition like Atletico Madrid’s Saul Niguez last season? Or was this Chelsea capitalizing smartly on an opportunity in the market? In this article, we take a look at Zakaria’s playing style, and how his unique profile in the squad could be used to optimize the squad’s strengths.

The Facilitator

Before we begin, take a look at these gorgeous vizes by @CrabStats and @AndyForrester1.

Crab Stats Graphics @CrabStats

Denis Zakaria - Borussia Mönchengladbach 2021-2022 Midfield Template, Radar

Andy Forrester @AndyForrester1

Denis Zakaria, 📊from his 21-22 season at M'Gladbach. *low minutes isn't accurate (transfer to Juve mid season) Good feet, strong on the ball & simple in possession but doesn't offer much higher up the pitch (strict role as DM) 98% use of right foot! #CFC

These are a pretty accurate depiction of the kind of player Zakaria was at Borussia Monchengladbach. He is 6’3, has an engine and rangy stride that allow him to cover distance pretty quickly, and has some lovely footwork in tight spaces. Marco Rose and Adi Hütter both saw his value predominantly as a disruptor, capable of breaking up play and cleaning up threats in front of his defense; his lanky frame extending the range of his defensive actions. Zakaria’s numbers reflect this — he is a keen interceptor of opposition moves, revels in tackling and blocking, and recovers a healthy number of loose balls in midfield and defense.

Zakaria’s standout trait is that he is an enabler in midfield — a selfless, positionally disciplined midfielder happy to do the dirty, thankless work and allow others to thrive. At BMG, his pivot partners benefited massively from this - with the exciting Florian Neuhaus demonstrating his quality further up the pitch and their latest revelation Kouadio Kone expressing his more progressive qualities as Zakaria offered a defensive foil. His presence in midfield offers those ahead of him the ability to take more risks and be more adventurous in possession. He has a safety-first mindset in his defensive third, and uses his strength and technical abilities to keep possession, which he circulates with short, safe passes.

1v1 Defending

His quickness and reach also make him very difficult to dribble past. Last year, he was dribbled past only 0.91 times/90, placing him in the 92nd percentile in Europe’s top 5 leagues. His career average of getting dribbled past, from 2017 to the current year, is only 0.99/90 minutes, an impressive achievement considering he came up against elite transition threats in Germany. You can see here how well he copes against the likes of Erling Haaland, Julian Brandt and Christopher Nkunku. He is strong, quick and cautious, waiting for the right moment to commit.

Progressive Carrying/Dribbling

Zakaria isn’t just adept at dealing with dribblers and 1v1 threats, he is one himself. His most prominent contribution to attack is his clever footwork, ability to evade pressure and break lines as he takes on opponents. His dribbling and close control, combined with his stride length, allow him to be a key link between defense and attack.

Positional Discipline

Another admirable trait is his positional discipline at DM. At BMG, he would perform his primary duties of recovering the ball or progressing the ball to the midfield 3rd, and then hold his position or drop deeper rather than getting carried away. In each of his last 3 seasons at BMG, he registered less touches/90 in the attacking 3rd than any midfielder (including his double pivot partners — Kouadio Kone, Christoph Kramer, Florian Neuhaus), managing lesser touches than fullbacks like Ramy Bensebaini, Oscar Wendt and Stefan Lainer.

Versatility

It was these qualities that led Rose and Hütter to sometimes deploy Zakaria at the center of a back 3. From here he was involved more in build up, using short carries and passes to progress play. Due to his excellent technical profile, he was seldom pressed, and when he was, he managed to evade it pretty well. His defensive skills also became crucial in and around the box, where the opposition threat is at its maximum.

Weaknesses

Aerial Duels

It was at CB however, that most of his weaknesses came to the fore. The first being his odd reluctance to challenge in the air despite his height, and his inability to win 50-50 aerial duels. In the last 6 seasons, his aerial duel win% has crossed 54% only once; on four of these occasions he was under 50% and during the 18/19 season, he was at 37.5%. Quality aside, it his quantity that is worrying too, as he only competes for around 2 aerial duels per 90 over the past 6 seasons (dropping as low as 1.1/90 in the 18/19 season.) Rodri, a half-inch shorter, won 73.4% of his 3.85 aerial duels/90 last season. Thiago Alcantara, half-a-foot shorter, won 69.8% of his 3.2 aerials per 90 last season. As a CM required to offer a high number of recoveries in the middle of the field, Zakaria could suffer from his lack of aerial competence.

His positioning and body orientation sometimes suggest a conscious decision to let the opponent win first contact, before reacting to cut out the more dangerous second with more time to react. However, like this instance inside the box vs Patrick Schick, he misjudges and allows the striker space inside the box to turn and act.

Defensive Awareness

There are also flaws in his ability to track and deal with elite movement. While he is excellent at dealing with what he can see ahead of him, he does not scan very often when the ball is in and around the box, which leaves his susceptible to elusive runs in behind him. In this game for instance, vs Dortmund, where he started at CB, he twice lose Haaland’s movement in behind him, and failed to prevent two goals. He was promptly moved to midfield after the first 30 minutes. These major flaws are definitive indicators that a CB role could be a risky proposition for him in the PL.

In this instance, he switches off as a run is made behind him and a Sassuolo player is able to take a shot on target inside the box.

Passive Defending

His cautious approach can also come off as a little casual at times, a frequent occurrence with players that like to stand-off while defending. This sometimes leads to him affording opposition players too much time to cause issues.

Limited Build Up Involvement

As a defensive midfielder, his primary tendency is to recycle possession with short, safe passes, which is a very useful trait to have in a possession-heavy side looking to cut out transitions and prevent attacks arising out of 2nd balls. Zakaria offers a lot in this regard. However, he very rarely attempts to switch play or get involved heavily in the first phase of build up as a DM. He is also notoriously one-footed, and rarely uses his weaker foot for medium/long passes. If Tuchel insists on Zakaria taking on build up duties massively as a midfielder, it could yield similar results to using Conor Gallagher in a midfield two — signs of encouragement, but far from perfect.

Lack of Final 3rd Threat

A minor caveat is his lack of chance creation or threat from midfield. Although he does pop up with the occasional goal, he attempts a lot of hasty long range efforts (a lot of them to prevent ball losses/transitions) and is yet to create more than 14 chances in a single season. His xA has only crossed 1 over an entire season once in the last six seasons of his career. His carrying and clever footwork tend to get him into promising positions, and sometimes, there are glimpses of his quality. However, his final ball lacks the weight and intent needed to be an effective weapon.

The runs he makes from the mid to attacking 3rd lacks the same decisiveness and purpose as the ones he makes from the defensive third to attacking 3rd. He offers some link-up play and runs into the box, but these lack the purpose and intent you’d expect from, say, an elite box-to-box midfielder. In the first instance, a good B2B would charge into the box, ahead of the defender for a tap in. Zakaria tends to lack the killer instinct.

However, as a defensive midfielder, this is hardly his brief. Any improvements here would be a massive bonus.

Why did Chelsea go for him?

Missing 13 games and playing only 9 during an injury-ridden spell at Juventus proved frustrating for Zakaria, and this was compounded by manager Massimiliano Allegri using him in roles that don’t play to his strengths. At Juve, Allegri has used Zakaria in a 2-man pairing next to Danilo, and even as a mezzala in a midfield 3; the latter a role that has been relatively unfamiliar to the Swiss over his career. A good example of this is the reorientation of his positioning and his area of influence. In his two-and-a-half seasons at BMG, Zakaria’s presses in the attacking 3rd/90 read - 1.34, 1.01 and 1.68. In his 6 months at Juve, they have leapt to 4.1.

While playing in a 3, he was often asked to position himself on the last line for runs into the box. This isn’t something Zakaria is used to, and his lack of assists and goal threat made it a bizarre move. Instead of moving to occupy the role of the deepest midfielder in the established possession phase, it was either Fabio Miretti or Manuel Locatelli who offered those duties, while Zakaria was often asked to drift wide.

You can see the difference between his season heatmaps (via Sofascore), and how he is taking up more positions in the attacking third (and on the right flank) than he has before.

Heatmap (BMG 21/22)

Heatmap (Juventus 21/22)

While in theory, a B2B role suits his defensive and progressive abilities, his lack of an end product makes his presence in those areas slightly counter-intuitive.

Another example of this is Allegri asking Zakaria to be inside the box for crosses, despite his poor record in the air.

At BMG, coaches smartly placed him in his own half during attacking set-pieces, from where his quality defensive nous, 1v1 prowess and the difficulty opposition players had in dribbling past him, made him a very valuable commodity.

Injury worries and frustrations arising from misusing him contributed in Juve’s willingness to let him go on loan. There is a quality player there whose strengths and confidence were dulled by playing in a system that did not suit his qualities.

How should Chelsea use him?

Zakaria’s arrival gives Chelsea their only pure DM profile in the squad, which allows Thomas Tuchel to deploy two 8s that could benefit from the Swiss midfielder’s defensive fortitude. The most notable problem in midfield has been the lack of balance between the starting midfielders — Jorginho, Kovacic, Kante all like advanced positions for different reasons, leaving the midfield susceptible to transitions in a midfield two. A Zakaria-Jorginho midfield would allow the latter much-needed defensive cover and allow him to press high without fear of reprisals. A Zakaria-Kante and Zakaria-Kovacic duo also adds a lot more balance and would allow his partners to embark on their trademark line-breaking slaloms.

Chasing two goals vs West Ham for a win, Tuchel switched to an ultra attacking 3-1-4-2 he often used at Dortmund, with Loftus-Cheek at lone DM. Zakaria would be a more natural fit in that position and allow Chelsea to pursue a high risk-high reward strategy with better cover in defensive midfield.

Zakaria also allows Tuchel to switch to a back 4, with a DM finally capable of slotting in at CB when required. The PL’s high intensity could be a good test for Zakaria’s press-resistance and technical security. He wasn’t as involved in the first phase of build up at BMG (52-54% of possession over the past 3 seasons.) The progression was quicker and he was pressed rarely during build-up there, so he would have to adapt to a side with a more patient, possession-oriented approach and do his circulating duties under more pressure. An interesting fix would be to drop him to CB to make a back 3, with Jorginho/Kovacic offering build up duties alongside a dropping midfielder (Mount to LCM for instance,) or an inverting FB in Reece James.

Zakaria’s biggest challenge would be how well he copes with recovering balls and defending against transitions after ball losses in the attacking 3rd. He has significant experience in dealing with transitions in the Bundesliga, but he has looked more comfortable as a cautious defender in the middle and defensive 3rds than as a proactive presser in the attacking third. However, good things come from bad experiences too, and an advanced role at Juve has shown that he is willing to use his defensive strengths further up the pitch to nip attacks in the bud.

In essence, acquiring a talented midfielder enduring a rough patch, in a system ill-suited to his profile, that too for a humble wage and a modest loan fee, is a low-risk/high reward move. If Chelsea can bring out the best in him, they will have on their hands a DM around which a balanced 3-man midfield unit can be built, allowing the likes of Gallagher, Mount, Loftus-Cheek to play in their natural positions. With Jorginho and Kante in the final year of their deals and Zakaria’s buy option at a modest €28m, cementing his loan to a permanent deal, a la Kovacic during the transfer ban, is the best possible (albeit highly unlikely scenario.)

If the move doesn’t work out, he can be loaned back to Juve, having provided a contingency plan until the arrival of Tuchel’s first choice targets, with Chelsea expected to go back in for Alvarez in January. Expectations from Zakaria should be tempered, as there are indications he could start as 5th, even 6th choice CM. However, Kante and Kovacic’s frequent injuries, a schedule made more complicated by the World Cup, and Tuchel’s frequent deployment of a midfield 3 will see Zakaria get ample chances to showcase the potential that made him one of Europe’s most exciting young talents only a few seasons ago.