Scout Report: Paredes. Did Chelsea miss out on the better option than Jorginho?

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Chelsea missed out on midfield target Leandro Paredes in the winter transfer window, Paris St-Germain won the race to sign the highly rated Argentinian. But he has made many fans ask themselves the same question: how good is he? Is Paredes good enough to play for PSG or Chelsea? Is he a better option for Chelsea over Jorginho? What can he offer the team? Here we take you to get to know the highly rated Argentinian midfielder.

Who is Paredes?

Born in San Justo, Argentina – about 45 minutes from downtown Buenos Aires, Paredes came through the ranks at Boca Juniors. He debuted at the age of just 16 and went on to play three seasons at La Bombonera, making 29 appearances for the first team.

His potential was obvious, and so Roma tried to bring him to Serie A at the start of 2014 – but the Giallorossi didn’t have any non-EU spots to accommodate him. So Paredes joined Chievo on loan for six months, then in the summer moved to the Italian capital.

Paredes was a bit-part player in his first season, but after a successful loan spell at Empoli he came back and was a dominant force at the heart of the Roma midfield. He helped the club to the round-of-16 in the Europa League and an impressive second-placed Serie A finish, just four points behind winners Juventus.

He then shocked everyone by leaving Roma after just one season and going to play in Russia for Zenit St. Petersburg. This seemed at best a lateral move and even with Roberto Mancini in charge at the Gazprom Arena, Zenit finished fifth in the Russian Premier League and Paredes faded from discussion just when he should have been coming into his own; he missed out on the World Cup squad as a result – although he’s found his way back into the national set-up since then.

Style of play

Being able to play in both a double pivot or as the deepest lying player in a three man midfield, Paredes is a 'regista' who tends to organize play from deep in his own half. Despite not possessing much pace, this position suits his physical and technical abilities very well as his passing and vision on the field truly compensate for his shortcomings in respect to speed. 

Both of these areas certainly count to his strengths and could even be deemed world class due to the Argentinian's phenomenal ability with his right foot; add to this that Paredes isn't only very quick in his decision making but also has an extremely high success rate at passing (despite his risky style of doing so).

Deep-lying playmakers are dying breeds in the world of football, especially ones with the skill set of Cesc Fàbregas. The significance of his departure has had on Chelsea has been stark, as Fabregas is the only squad member trusted by Maurizio Sarri to deputise for Jorginho.

Ball control and passing – the master of low driven balls

The ability to pass is arguably the most important trait of a 'regista' and Paredes is a very special player when it comes to this specific area. On average, the Argentinian makes 62 passes per game with a 87.5% pass success rate this season. 

Though he tends to remain further back while in possession, Paredes always supports his team mates by offering himself as the open man in order to rapidly shift from defense to attack and start the build-up play for an attacking move. 

He does well to link up play between defense and midfield from a deep starting position and is also able to see passes that you'd normally associate with, for instance, Cesc Fabregas, preferring to drop in between his centre-backs instead of carrying the ball forward like Mateo Kovačić. 

While such 'quarterback-esque” passing is a quality Jorginho may possess, the Italian rarely makes use of it and the Argentinian, on the other hand, opts to do exactly that, accelerating the speed of play and not minding to take risks, especially as these passes often find their intended target.

Paredes' high passing success rate is truly phenomenal as Jorginho may have an even higher one with 90.5% but merely records 0.7 key passes per game compared to Paredes' 2.1.

By taking an extra touch, he basically invites pressure and lures opposing players into running at him and, while this may seem risky, Paredes always seems to be in control of the situation, his physicality contributing greatly here. Essentially, Paredes is consequently able to bring an injection of pace into a team's passing, as well as in regard to getting the ball up the pitch. Moving the ball with tempo is something the Blues have been lacking this year and, by trying to speed things up, this partially explains why Paredes records less passes per game compared to Jorginho.

It's also worth noting that while Paredes does like to take an extra touch, he's very much capable of playing the same way Jorginho does, ergo with one touch passes, and therefore does just as well when playing out from the back. Quite notably, the midfielder has always had an immense amount of composure for a player his age and it makes him seem nearly completely immune to opponents who utilize a high press. 

The second coming of Frank Lampard?

Registas aren’t known for their goalscoring ability but Paredes, has a knack of scoring timely goals as was evident during his time with Roma and Zenit. He can deliver from set-pieces and has an incredible long-shot ability which PSG could use. The Parisian team solely rely on their front three for goals and the Argentine adds an extra goal threat from midfield.

Not only can he shoot from range but he has the ability to play one-touch football and dance his way into the opposition box and walk the ball into the net. This can be an extremely useful skill with the likes of Neymar, Edinson Cavani, Kylian Mbappé and Marco Verratti are all very skillful on the ball and can interchange passes in tight spaces.

Defensive ability – fight, fight and more fight

While Paredes isn't overly prolific in attack, the defensive side of his game is certainly one of his assets. Apart from the Argentinian being rather poor in aerial duels, Paredes makes up for any short comings regarding his height through a strong physicality, tenacity and extreme aggressiveness in one-on-one situations. 

Defensively Leandro Paredes is alert and is aware of his surroundings most times. His initial positioning in and out of possession is acceptable and combines his effective positioning with a controlled aggressive play style. This allows him to intercept and put opponents under pressure to misplace their passes. However, he can learn to taper his aggression as he is prone to leaving spaces in behind when pushing forward.

Thomas Tuchel’s philosophy revolves around using the midfield to supplement the front three. He usually lines up in a 4-3-3 using the half-spaces to distract the opposition in midfield and create space on the opposite side. The central midfielder drops into the full-back’s position while the full-back pushes up. The winger then drops into the half-space, confusing the oppositon and giving the full-back a free run or a diagonal pass option to switch play and put the opposite winger in a one-on-one situation.

Parades may need to adjust to the pace of Ligue 1. He may be able to get away with lingering on the ball in Russia, but the French top flight is less forgiving.

On a side note, it's important for me to clarify that this article isn't intended to be overly critical of Jorginho or attempts to claim that Paredes is the superior player to the Italian. We rate Jorginho highly & merely intend to propose that Paredes would have added another dimension to Chelsea's play in midfield.

Parades's amazing Passing Skills, Dribbles & Goals