Despite their comprehensive win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, Derby County would be gutted at themselves for not challenging for the play-off spots at this time of the season, which occurred owing to their sporadic run of form in the middle phase of the season. The Rams have to significantly bolster their squad in the summer and inject some quality, particularly in their midfield.
Gary Rowett is believed to have already started to assess his options and one of the latest players to have found a place on the radar of the former Birmingham City manager is CS Maritimo’s Alex Soares. Here is our scout report of the player who has emerged from the Portuguese football setup as a very fine footballer.
History
Soares has had a career which has been a trajectory of upward movement. Having worked in the youth systems of Benfica, Odivelas, Oeiras and Belenenses, the Lisbon-born midfielder made his debut in Portuguese fourth division with Esperance de Lagos where he played on 27 occasions. He was then lured to the Greek’s second tier outfit, Panserraikos, but failed to collect even one game under his belt and eventually moved to Maritimo, after having impressed for Maritimo B for a couple of seasons.
Style Of Play
Soares has been a crucial element in the central midfield of Maritimo this season and has been a type of player who would not only shield the backline meticulously but will also make a plenty of runs up the pitch to create handful amount of goal scoring opportunities for his teammates. He is a shrewd passer of the ball and tries to keep possession to maintain a sense of calmness in the middle. He gets into crunchy situations and comes out with the last laugh more often than not.
Strengths
The Portuguese’s proactive measures in reading the game and taking the requisite steps helps massively in dictating the tempo of the game in favour of his employers. He might not have the luxury of boasting about speed or daunting appearance but he is a perfect utility player who knows how to get the job done. He picks out pinpoint passes from the central midfield sector and could be a promising box-to-box midfielder under the tutelage of Rowett. The 26-year-old has a well mannered and disciplined player for the Green and the Reds and considering his age, he is yet to hit his peak.
Weaknesses
One of the drawbacks which Soares needs to work on is his slow movements and not having adequate goals under his belt to account for. He needs to get into the box more to carve openings for the advanced players and shoot when he finds a good opportunity to test the goalkeeper from the edge of the box. Further, he needs to cultivate the element of versatility by accustoming himself with the wide areas and learning the technical know how to do the damage from the wings to become a complete package.
