Sporting Club de Portugal has been the popular destination of scouts from some of the top clubs of Europe in the recent weeks. The player on watch is Ruben Semedo, who is reportedly being tracked by the likes of Southampton, Everton, A.C Milan and Napoli. A product of the famed academy of Sporting CP, Semedo has been part of the setup under Jorge Jesus starting 7 games in the Liga NOS and 3 games of the Champions League. The 22 year old joined the youth academy of his current club in 2009 and was promoted to the B squad after 4 years. Within two years he gained promotion to the senior squad and has since then made 20 appearances in the domestic league having spent time on loan at Vitoria Setubal. He previously had another loan spell at Reus while still playing with the reserves team of Sporting.
Strengths
Semedo is primarily a central defender who can also play as a defensive midfielder. The defender is an absolute joy to watch in the aerial duels where he excels almost everytime and is also good in marking and interceptions. Standing at 1.89m the defender possesses unique physique which coupled with his background of playing street football which enables him to be a real tough man on the pitch and the trait is displayed when he executes a tackle on the attacker. The uncompromising style of his gameplay is a real exciting factor and his pace allows him to expertly cover his zone. Having previously started playing football as a midfielder, the passing of the 22 year old allows good buildup play from the back. With a timely development of the tactical understanding of the game, assisted by his coach Jorge Jesus, the defender has also improved his defending further owing to better anticipation and positioning.
Weaknesses
The biggest weakness of Semedo has been his reckless attitude as he gets carried away a bit too much with his actions. Even though, he has improved on that front in the past year accumulating less cards from the referees, it still needs to improve further just like his maturity. The defender furthermore needs to increase his defensive concentration which will eradicate the odd mistakes at the back.
Verdict
Semedo is an exciting prospect with talent and potential to be at the top level. He has so far not been tested against quality opposition on a continuous basis and the more he faces tougher oppositions, the more weakness will be exposed. A move to a better league thus is necessary for the player and while he has the attributes to play in England, he needs to choose the club carefully for he still has a bit of learning to do owing to the tactical aspect of the game at the very top level. A mid table club hoping to improve and raise the bar steadily might be the perfect place for the defender as it will aid his progress while providing him the time span to be able to do it slowly but steadily.
