Rwan – Santos’ raw striking prodigy
The whirlwind which is Brazilian football and Brazilian youth development is unyielding as Rwan Philipe Rodriguez de Souza Cruz was playing with Flamengo de Guarulhos before joining Santos on loan. The 20-year-old snatched his opportunity with both hands, becoming one of the most impressive young players in the team as a goalscorer with 13 goals in 17 games at Under 20 level and another 3 goals in 11 games at Under 23 level. His run of form has been so impressive that Santos just spent 700,000 reais to acquire 70% of his rights while signing the young attacker to a contract until 2024 as he is in the perfect place to grow with a side that has utilized Kaio Jorge and Marcos Leonardo up front in recent years.
Most young modern-day strikers have a well-developed technical skillset as while growing their sense of time and movement in the box while Rwan already has a highly developed nose for goal at an early age. His movement and positioning are that of an old-fashioned predatorial striker as he has a sense of arriving to get on the end of a delivery at the perfect moment. His all-round game is also impressive as he has the physique to receive possession with his back to goal and hold-up play while his first touch is brilliant as he can drop in between the lines to lay-off possession as well as receiving possession, to turn and switch the ball to the opposite flank. He has played as a striker as well as in between the lines as his will probably in the latter position going forward due to his movement, timing of his runs as well as his hold-up play.
Rwan being deployed in an attacking midfield role is very limiting of his qualities as when he receives possession in between the lines, his feet are not quick enough to facilitate transition to turn and distribute the ball effectively while he does not have the ability to make runs into the channels or disorient opposition centre-backs with his physicality and movement as often as he would like. However, at home to Guarani, the 20-year-old managed to score two good goals in open play as after a turnover, he ghosted to the back-post to receive a cross, controlling the ball beautifully with his first touch before calmly placing the ball past the keeper to apply the finish. The second was due to his alertness and predatory instinct inside the box as a corner came in to the back-post as Rwan made a run to the near post but made a looping run back as he found himself in the perfect position to divert an opportunity into an empty net.
This is an integral facet of Rwan’s game as a striker, as long as the ball is in play and he is in the box, he continuously moves until he finds a pocket of space to have a high-quality goalscoring opportunity. Rwan’s first-touch and hold up play is quite intriguing as he showed against Atletico Goianiense, receiving a pass in the right channel to lunge and take a measured touch before twisting and turning as he released the ball to a winger. The 20-year-old’s hold-up and combination play allows him to be a pivotal chance creator for his team as when he is playing deeper as an attacking midfielder, receiving possession and laying the ball off could slow the approach play phase down while in the nine-space, it gives his side continuity in the attacking play and allows him to create shooting opportunities for teammates.
Rwan would receive a lobbed pass in the nine-space to chest the ball and lay-off to a teammate who spread the play into the wide areas as the young striker would move in between two defenders, moving towards the wide areas to create a passing lane for himself to run onto as he found himself in ample in space. The ball moved to the flank while Rwan moved towards the opposite flank to create space for himself at the back-post as he stepped behind his man before using his heel to push forward and make a run from the back-post to the near post as the cross was blocked. Rwan managed to find space in three different positions in the box in a 7 second period as this is the most highly developed and important aspect of the game as he already manages to generate high quality opportunities for himself. The 20-year-old would then be in the perfect position to get on the end of a cross from the right flank to redirect the ball off the left post and into goal with his head.
Away to EC Sao Bernardo. Rwan dropped in between into the deeper areas to allow the ball to roll across his body and flick a pass in between two players and into the nine-space with the outside of his right boot. With every passing game at Santos, Rwan is improving his technique and all-round game as he develops into an all-round attacking presence. The 20-year-old would receive possession on the right flank to drive the ball past a fullback before squaring a phenomenally placed delivery into the box for a teammate at the far-post to apply a one-touch finish. The Brazilian would then receive possession in between the lines to turn and spread a pass to the left flank for the winger to cut inside as his ability to switch the ball to the opposite flank allows him to grow as a chance creator as this allows the winger to have a shot on goal. The 20-year-old would create an opportunity by chasing back to win possession before receiving the ball to drive possession forward and flick an outside of the boot pass for a teammate in the wide areas before ghosting into the box and finding a pocket of space to receive a cross and hold off a defender to play the ball to a teammate who would smash a strike over the bar from inside the box.
After a turnover, he would receive possession in his own half to lob an accurate switch ball to the opposite flank for a teammate to run onto in order to establish a counter-attacking team. Despite the improvement in his all-round play, Rwan is still a threat as a goal-scorer in the opposition half as he would receive a cut-back outside the opposition box to fire a well-placed strike past the goalkeeper from range. Rwan should have had an assist as well as he was exhibited the two-way striker that he is capable of being as he received possession in the right half-space with his back to goal to flick a pass in the wide areas to instigate a one-two for him to receive possession in the channels before squaring a cross for a teammate to have a 1v1 opportunity saved. Rwan could be simple with his combination play as he now instigates more elaborate moves while growing his range of distribution which would allow him to add another dimension to his game if he continues to grow at Santos.
At home to Ceara, the 20-year-old would snuff out an opportunity for himself, chasing a lobbed pass back to the keeper to poke the ball around the unsuspecting goalkeeper and tap the ball into an empty net to open the scoring. Rwan would have an opportunity to double the score as he would rise high to head a corner into the ground that would bounce wide from point blank range. One of Rwan’s favoured runs is positioning himself at the back-post when the ball is played to the wide areas before moving to the near post to get on the end of a cross as when he positions himself at the back-post, he will normally move to his defender’s blind-side to lull them into a false sense of security to burst towards the near post where he will be able to get on the end of a delivery. He would have a situation where the ball was moving to the right flank, Rwan was positioned at the back-post before he made a run to the near post where he mis-kicked a quality opportunity.
The 20-year-old would then illustrate his genius movement and innate sense of space as the ball would move to the right flank for the attacker to push forward and move into the right channel as the right-back set his feet to close the delivery as he found a little lane of space where he could receive a through ball and have a shooting opportunity. The winger would cut inside and switch the ball to the opposite flank, at which point Rwan would have the intelligence to circle back and move into an onside position before making a dart to the back-post to receive the cross for what would have been a tap-in to an empty net, but the ball was played behind him and was cleared. Rwan nearly created a tap-in situation with his movement and alertness in the box as his non-stop movement and sense of space is impeccable. This sequence showed another facet of Rwan’s movement which is his propensity to move closer to an attacker with possession to open a passing and running lane for a through ball as he constantly looks to make himself available for through balls which are the highest quality opportunities in football.
The 20-year-old would receive another lobbed pass to take another sumptuous first touch with his back to goal and spread the ball for a teammate. Rwan received possession with his back to goal again to take another fantastic first-touch before turning switching a pass to a winger on the weak-side who smashed his strike wide of the goal. In a short space of time, Rwan has taken large leaps forward as an all-round attacker, being able to not only receive possession in between the lines and lay-off the ball but to also be a pivotal chance creator from a central attacking role as he has the passing range to switch the ball to teammates as well as the ability to run into the channels and cross the ball. Signing him to a long-term deal was such a shrewd piece of business for Santos as all signs show that he will develop into a high-level attacker.
Rwan is an intriguing striking prospect as he has had room to develop his instincts in the box as he has had a similar route to first-team football as Gabriel Jesus without playing high-level academy football where his technical development would have been put above his development as a goal scorer. His non-stop movement, the pockets of space that he manages to pick up as well as being as sharp with his feet as well as with his head will make him a player to watch in the next year. He will need to improve his one-touch finishing with all the space that he creates for himself as well as his running in behind as he will need to develop his sense for drawing the defender into an awkward body shape before bursting into space behind him. The 20-year-old is not blessed with blistering pace but if he manages to time his run to perfection, he can make a run in behind and use his strength to hold off a defender before applying the finish. Defensively, he should also improve his sense for pressing the ball as he can become stagnant when possession is lost as, especially in the counter-pressing phase, he can push forward to cover attackers in short spaces to use his physique to force a turnover and regain possession. He can also improve his sense for scanning and covering space to make interceptions as this improvement will come with more tactical training in the future.
Rwan has just signed a new contract until 2024 which means his medium-term future at least will be with Santos. He will gain more experience with the U23s as the State Championships next year could give him the opportunity to stake a claim for a starting role as he could grow into one of the higher potential attackers in Brazilian football in the next year. Benfica were rumoured to be interested in him as it will be integral that he gains playing experience for Santos before making a move abroad as Santos will undoubtedly sell him for a profit. The 20-year-old will certainly continue to have more European scouts watching him in the next few years.
