Amadou Dante – Sturm Graz’ ball-playing left-back
Mali has become one of premier hotbeds of footballing talents in world football as this has shown in past youth tournaments as in the 2019 U20 AFCON in Niger, they won the tournament with a group of players who would begin their ascent in European football. El Bilal Toure, Mohamed Camara, Sekou Koita and Amadou Dante were part of this group as Dante would move from Yeelen Olympique to Sturm Graz. He would spend a season on loan at Hartberg as he has now become one of the team’s star players as he possesses the tools to be a well-rounded fullback in modern-day football.
This season, Dante has been a standout in a talented young side, standing out in the responsibilities of his position as he will tuck into the central positions to receive possession, working connections with teammates to play deep line-breaking passes into the central spaces or down the line. After working passes down the line, he will normally make runs into the half-spaces to work connections as his role is more about occupying more narrow positions rather than overlapping. In the rare instances where he does make overlapping runs, he has shown potential as a crosser, lofting accurate and well-weighted deliveries into the opposition box but he creates most of his opportunities from his penetrative passes or in passing sequences. Defensively, Sturm Graz employ a high-press as Dante is tasked with using his anticipation to push forward and make interceptions or tackles as well as defend 1v1 situations. The 22-year-old is astute at defending the back-post, retaining his focus to make crucial interventions while he has moments of heroic last-man defending, shifting to the opposite flank to make interventions to deny the opposition goalscoring opportunities.
At home to Red Bull Salzburg, Dante illustrated his ability as a dribbler and ball-carrier, weaving past pressure to drive the ball forward before playing a deep vertical pass to Rasmus Hojlund in the nine-space as the attacker laid the ball off to work a connection. He then regained possession and played the ball forward to the Danish attacker to set his side on the counter-attack. His battle with Noah Okafor on the flank was intriguing as he was beaten for the attacker to get a cross into the box as the Malian had a good body shape but just lunged at the ball too early instead of forcing the attacker to the by-line. In the next battle, the 22-year-old would push forward to win possession in the pressing phase. In the possession phase, he tucked inside before his team lost a turnover to the opposition as Dante quickly moved into the wide areas to block an Okafor shot before using his body to shield the ball and regain possession again.
In the attacking phase, Dante remained tucked into the central spaces as even when his wide player made a central run, the Malian did not move to the wide areas to make an overlapping run. Due to this, he rarely moved into any crossing situations at the start of the season but as the season progressed, there has been glimmers of his potential as an overlapping defender. In a defensive situation, he was beaten but recovered to make an interception, playing a one-two with a teammate to manoeuvre out of a tight space before playing a searching long pass for Hojland in the channels. In defensive situations, if he is beaten, he rarely gives up, showing grit and determination to recover and regain possession. In the defensive phase, he has shown impeccable calm for such a young player, regaining possession to play a penetrative pass to a teammate. The 22-year-old would notch an assist as after a turnover, he threaded a wonderful through ball to Hojland who drove past a defender to get into a 1v1 situation and hammer home.
The intriguing thing about Dante’s style of play is despite the absence of high-volume crossing, he still manages to create opportunites with his distribution as he had already notched two assists off passing sequences, playing early passes into the channels for runners or through balls for attackers in the box. The 22-year-old would win a turnover before threading another brilliant pass to Hojland who held-up the ball before working a pass to the wide areas before making a run into the box to receive a cross for a shot which was held. In the defensive phase, he pushed up to make an interception before playing a one-touch pass to a teammate in between the lines. Away to Feyenoord in the Europa League, Dante was consistently threading the early pass into the channels for Emmanuel Emegha to run onto. The Malian is unafraid of pressure, looking to work connections with Alexander Prass to evade pressure as he played a penetrative pass in between the lines to evade pressure.
In an unfortunate moment, a shot would be deflected off the Malian for Feyenoord to go 4-0 up before Marcus Holmgren Pedersen outmuscled him but the 22-year-old regained his stride, lobbing a pass forward to start a counter after a turnover. Away to Austria Wien, Dante made an interception before playing a deep pass to the ten space before the left-back received possession once more to thread a pass for William Boving to trade passes with Albian Ajeti and have a shot on goal. After a quick vertical connection, Dante made a rare overlapping run to receive possession, lofting a lovely cross into the box for Boving to slide and finish to put Sturm Graz two goals ahead. Defensively, his positioning is very sound as he is good at making interceptions and tackles as the 22-year-old would move across the defensive block, putting his body on the line to make a last-ditch challenge. The youngster drove the ball forward to thread a pass into the half-space before he received possession in the deeper areas, chipping a ball over an attacker to play a pass forward. He finished the game with 2 chances created and 1 assist from 1 cross.
At home to Lazio in the Europa League, he received possession to drive the ball inside and thread a pass to the six-space. In this instance, he showed impeccable calm to allow the ball to roll into his path to invite pressure as he would close down Milinkovic-Savic before making a block on Felipe Anderson in a 1v1 situation. The 22-year-old would make an interception in the half-space as Lazio would slice through the Sturm Graz high-line as Dante would tuck in to make a brilliant last-ditch intervention to prevent the opposition attacker from tapping the ball into an empty net. In possession, he received possession in the left-back zone to calmly roll a pass to Prass in between the lines to start an attacking move as when his side switched to a three-chain in the possession phase with the Malian dropping deep to curl a pass in behind to Boving as he moved to the flank to receive possession, cutting past a defender to work a pass to the centre. He would then tuck inside to make a clearance on a pass into the box as he made a well-timed interception from an opposition goal-kick as he received possession on the overlap to loft a cross into the box which was deflected.
Dante is extremely confident in defending 1v1s as his defensive anticipation is excellent as he won a tackle before making an interception as the 22-year-old knows how to shape his body to make a tackle in a 1v1 situation as he can also win possession with some of his more unorthodox lunges. The Malian also possesses good recovery speed to win possession when he is beaten while he is savvy and intelligent at using his body to regain possession with conceding fouls. In possession, he rolled the ball past an opposition attacker to Prass to start an attacking move. He utilized his recovery speed to win possession near the flank as he is innate in using his body to make challenges without fouling opposition wingers. His positioning was sound to make an interception on a switch ball as the 22-year-old can move to the flank to make disguised passes into the centre as loves to roll penetrative passes into the half-space. He made a direct pass down the line before receiving possession once more to play a cut-back for a blocked shot. In the build-up phase, he received possession to flick the ball past an attacker to drive the ball forward as he attempted to skip past a second attacker as he drew a foul.
At home to Feyenoord, he received possession to skip past a marker and play the ball to the six-space as he received possession once more in the same situation, skipping past an attacker for the second time before rolling a pass through an opposition player’s legs with a pass to the six-space. He made a rare foray into the wide areas to receive a pass on the overlap, cutting back a cross to the top of the box for a blocked shot. He was beaten by Alireza Jahanbakhsh as the Iranian managed to get a cross into the box as in their second tussle, Dante remained touch tight to the attacker, winning possession with a perfectly timed sliding challenge. In the counter-press, he tucked inside to regain possession while he covered for his centre-back to make a crucial block to regain possession once more. He made another block at the back-post before making an overlap where he lobbed a cross into the box for an opportunity which was headed wide.
Away to Midtylland, in the final game of the Europa League group stage, Dante prodded the ball past a defender and lobbed a wonderful cross into the box which was bobbled onto the chest of a striker. He had another intriguing battle with Gustav Isaksen as he lost the first battle, conceding a free-kick before winning the second battle by shielding a pass down the line before clearing the ball. In possession, he evaded pressure with a penetrative pass down the line before rolling another line-breaking pass into the attacking line. The 22-year-old is skilled at finding solutions in tight spaces when he is under pressure as he can evade pressure in the build-up phase while also playing passes in between the central lines in the attacking phase. Away to Red Bull Salzburg, he received possession on the left flank, driving the ball into space to fake a pass into the centre to skip past a defender as he threaded a through ball for Prass in the channels.
When the ball was on the right flank, Dante tucked into the half-space to receive possession, taking a touch to drive the ball forward before threading a pass into the ten space. In the build-up phase, he received possession from the goalkeeper, playing a pass down the line for Prass to flick a pass for Emegha in the channels. Away to Austria Klagenfurt, he tucked inside to make an interception on a switch ball, driving the ball into the centre and threading a pass to the ten space before receiving possession once more, driving the ball forward and threading another pass to the ten space. He was perfectly positioned to make another interception before threading a pass in between two players to start a counter-attack. Dante’s ability to regain possession before combining his ball-carrying and distribution to transition into quick attacking moves is one of his greatest strengths as a fullback.
Dante would utilize a free-kick to play a line-breaking pass into the left half-space as he would push up in the opposition half to win a turnover, playing a one-touch line-breaking pass into the ten space. The 22-year-old would notch an assist, receiving possession in the wide zone to loft a cross into the box which Boving despatched at the back-post. He received possession in the left-back zone to loft a pass over an attacker and to a teammate in the half-space. At home to Rapid Wien, he received possession near the left flank to play a delicate pass to Prass in the half-space. After an opposition goal-kick, Dante was returning from a higher central area as his centre-back moved into the wide areas to cover for him as the Malian moved into the centre-back zone to make an interception on a pass into the centre. The 22-year-old played a one-touch lobbed pass to the nine-space with his weaker left foot.
Moments later, he received possession in the left-back zone to lob another penetrative pass to the nine-space before tucking inside to make another interception on a switch to the back-post. He received possession on the left-flank to play a one-touch pass into the half-space while in the build-up phase, he received possession on the left-flank to play a one-touch pass to Prass in the half-space as he received possession once more to play another one-touch pass to Prass in a build-up sequence that led to a goal. In the pressing phase, his winger would receive possession in a 1v1 situation as the Malian barged his winger out of stride before making a sliding tackle to win possession. Dante made an interception on a deep pass on the left flank, working a one-two with a teammate to drive possession forward and lob a pass into the centre. In the attacking phase, he received possession on the left flank, driving the ball into the centre to play a through ball into the channels with his weaker right foot as he received possession near the touchline again, attracting pressure to play a through ball for his teammate in the channels as he made a run to receive possession once more as he played a back-pass to a teammate.
Dante has thrived within the remits of his role at Sturm Graz while showing the potential to improve within other systems. His blend of size and technical ability makes him unique as a fullback as he is capable of receiving possession in the build-up phase and gently rolling possession past pressure and into teammates to instigate attacking moves. He is tasked with stretching the pitch in Sturm Graz’ 4-4-2 diamond system, working connections and moving into the centre while overlapping runs can be very rare. He has proved himself to be an adept crosser when he gets into wide positions as it would be intriguing to see if he could sustain high-quality deliveries if he is asked to cross at higher volumes. He could certainly operate as an inverted fullback, working connections in the half-space while he has the vision to play penetrative passes in between the lines. His method of creativity is mostly through his progressive passing and passes into the channels rather than crossing due to Sturm Graz’ style of play as they rely on attackers making runs into the channels during transition.
Defensively, Dante is a willing competitor in 1v1 situations, looking to use his body to get in between his attacker and the ball to regain possession cleanly while he thrives in driving opposition attackers towards the by-line to make tackles and blocks. Sturm Graz are a high-pressing side as the Malian is frequently responsible for 1v1s on the flank, showing great anticipation to make interceptions as he can also allow his attacker to receive the ball and turn, deciding to make a brilliantly timed tackle once his attacker turns. Dante is adept at defending the back-post, tucking inside to make brilliant interceptions on switch passes while if a switch or cross goes over his head to the back-post, he is able to recover quickly to make last-second blocks or tackles. With another team, he would be able to be effective with a winger closing down the space outside him, allowing Dante to tuck inside and man-mark or look to central passing lanes or passes into the channels. There is an aura of heroism to Dante’s defending as he can make last-man blocks, he is adept for covering for teammates as he has had sequences where he has moved to the opposite flank to make last man challenges while he is quick and effective at reacting to danger.
Dante recently signed a contract extension which will last until 2026 but he could be one of the more sought-after players on the summer transfer window. Brighton and Hove Albion under Roberto De Zerbi would be an amazing move for the youngster as he has similarities to Rogerio who the coach worked with at Sassuolo. He is a different prototype to Pervis Estupinan as he would be able to work connections with Kaoru Mitoma to thread passes for him into the channels. He would also thrive at Vincent Kompany’s Burnley as a back-up or replacement for Ian Maatsen. Teams like Bologna, Lazio, Lecce and Fiorentina would be good moves for the youngster as would Lille and Monaco in Ligue 1. It will be interesting to see where Dante moves next as well as tracking his development in a system which would require more from him than Sturm Graz’ system.
