Ante Palaversa – Manchester City’s prodigious deep-lying playmaker
Manchester City watched Ante Palaversa for two years as he toiled with the Hadjuk Split youth team as well as the Croatian U19 side. Palaversa played as a deep-lying playmaker as well as a box-to-box midfielder, making his debut for the Hadjuk Split first team at the tender age of 18-years-old in front of 25,000 fans. In January last year, the Citizens made the move to sign him before loaning him back out to Hadjuk as he was touted as a replacement for the aging Fernandinho. He still had room to develop at Hadjuk as at the end of last season as Manchester City decided it was beneficial for him to move to KV Oostende to move away from his family and live on his own to mature.
During his loan at Hadjuk, it was not all smooth sailing as he was left out of the starting lineup with Hadjuk willing to not get paid the €45,000 appearance fee that was a condition of his contract. When he did start, he would also be substituted around the 60-minute mark as his Head Coach, Siniša Oreščanin believed that he lacked the focus and concentration to play a full 90 minutes. However, Hadjuk were also protecting him from being overconfident at the early stages of his career, allowing him to continue working and growing without the scrutiny of their fanbase.
At KV Oostende, he would remedy his 90-minute issues, completing most of the full games in Belgium this season, only being kept away from the starting lineup by some minor injuries at the start of the season. He has normally played at the base of midfield in many formations like a 5-3-2, 4-1-4-1 and 4-4-2 as he was a week to week starter in a side that would be relegated this season. Palaversa was not undeterred by facing relegation as he knew that after fighting for the higher echelons of the table with Hadjuk and possibly looking to win titles with Manchester City, being in a side which would face such troubles would be beneficial for the development of his career.
The first thing that stands out about Palaversa as a deep-lying midfielder is his movement to create passing angles for his centre-back, he will consistently be a mobile presence in the six-space, moving to a wider position to receive the ball or making subtle movements behind the first line of pressure to demand possession in tight spaces. Once he receives possession, he has the confidence and skill to twist and turn out pressure with some mesmerising dribbling to create space for a pass in between the lines. When the 20-year-old midfield prospect looked to distribute the ball from deep, he always looked to work passes in between the central lines to the ten space or nine space. He only looked to work wider passes when he received the ball facing his own goal, working a wide pass to the flanks then moving into space to receive possession to work connections before moving the ball forward.
Palaversa is right-footed and has mastered the art of receiving the ball with his stronger right foot, either on his in-step to have a better overview of the field or with the outside of his right boot so he can turn out of pressure to work a pass in between the lines. He also thrives in stretching the pitch as he will normally move towards the ball in build-up to receive possession as he will look up and ping accurate switch-balls to the far side of the pitch. The young Croat will also look to stretch the pitch and change the position attack when he receives the ball in the higher areas of the final third to create crossing opportunities for teammates.
Palaversa’s ability to drive the ball and keep his head up, scouring the pitch for options makes him a threat for a counter-attacking team and will give him the potential to truly command games from a technical and physical standpoint in the future. At home to Anderlecht earlier this season, a teammate made an interception as the ball rolled to another of his teammates for Palaversa to cleverly move and make himself available for a pass to receive possession and work an impudent chip to Fashion Sakala in behind the opposition defence for the Zambian attacker to go through on goal and have his shot saved. Once he wins the ball in a turnover or moving into space, he always has head up to make a risky pass for an attacker to have a clear goalscoring opportunity.
As he continues the formative years of his career, he will become gifted at playing the pass before the assist as when he receives the ball in the final third, he makes perfectly timed passes to attackers in the central pockets. All of his passes in the final third are rolled with perfect weighting from different body angles as he excels at receiving the ball, setting his feet and making a pass at a quick pace. In a more organised attacking system, he has the potential to be a controlling midfielder from deep while playing as a box-to-box midfielder, he has the mobility and press resistance to thrive at a higher pace of play.
He plays with authority defensively as he thrives as the deepest-lying midfielder in counter-pressure, if possession is lost in front of him, he will push up to make perfectly timed challenges to regain possession as he his quick in covering short spaces. He also has a developed sense of recognising passing sequences to push up to make key interceptions in the opposition half before moving play into attackers in between the lines. Palaversa is lanky while having a well-built physicality, being able to shuttle across the pitch efficiently to regain possession as he will also provide adequate press-security in pressing situations. He has the ability to regain possession from aerial duels while being a clean tackler on the ground.
In the defensive phase, his mobility allows him to cover larger areas of the pitch, shuttling across to support the centre-back or make sudden charges forward to regain possession. He is sharp and astute the challenge as his defensive initiative belies his tender years while once he regains possession, he can utilize clever dribbles to twist and turn out of counter-pressure before leading his team on the break. He is a lumbering physical presence at the base of midfield as he can switch into the pressure phase to push forward to mark an opposition player to force a sideways or backwards pass. The next step for him is playing in a highly organised system at a higher level with more defensive responsibility, especially in regards to managing his movement and timing to add more discipline to his defensive game.
He finished 17th in Belgian footballer of the year voting with only four votes as he was also in the top four players considered to be KV Oostende’s player of the year. This is quite the accomplishment for a player who was considered to have an inability to maintain focus for 90 minutes in his previous loan to Hadjuk Split last year as a loan to La Liga or the Championship would be beneficial for his development. The 20-year-old has come leaps and bounds with his play and should be looking to make inroads into an aging Croatian National Team midfield in Euro 2020 next summer. It will be interesting to see how Manchester City and Pep Guardiola use pre-season to assess him and consider the path forward for the young deep-lying playmaker.
