Bastian Yanez – Union Espanola’s creative winger

Bastian Yanez has been with Union Espanola since he was 8-years-old as he spent his time watching the professional players train, just hoping to emulate them. He has dealt with all the pressures of what it means to be a young footballer, for instance, the lack of a normal social life during childhood and adolescence as well as managing his desires and expectations. He would train in the morning and go to school in the afternoon as the 20-year-old’s sacrifice has paid dividends with him being a starter for the first-team. The thought of quitting football crossed his mind, but he leaned on his family and girlfriend for inspiration as he has found form as one of his team’s best players after a tough start to the season.

Union Espanola have hit a purple patch with their academy products like a few other teams in Chile as Carlos Palacios came through the academy and has been sold to Internacional in Brazil while Victor Mendez, Jonathan Villagra and Yanez have become fully fledged first-team players while 18-year-olds, Vicente Conelli and Gabriel Norambeuna begin to gain more playing time with the first-team. Yanez has been a fan of Union Espanola since he was a child as he has become one of a few intriguing young inside forwards in Chilean football. He won the Chilean U17 Division with Union Espanola in 2018 as he would make his debut with the first team a few months later. He is rare as a left-footed winger who plays on the left flank but there is an opportunity for him to move to the right flank at some point in his career while he is a fantastic crosser, delivering the ball with immense precision. He loves to occupy the half-spaces where he can drive defenders to the by-line to cross or cut-inside and have shooting opportunities.

Away to Curico Unido, Yanez received possession in the wide areas and looked to play crosses too early as most of his deliveries were blocked. The 20-year-old struggles with his dribbling as when he receives possession in the wide areas with a marker closing down on him, he struggles to beat the marker in order to get a cross into the box. He is also not blessed with blistering pace as once he receives the ball in the wide areas, he normally looks to work passing connections with teammates in the half-space to get into a better area to play crosses into the box. As a left-footed player deployed on the left-wing, he does not have the opportunity to cut inside onto his stronger foot to have shooting opportunities. However, if he is played into the half-space or gets in behind to have a high-quality crossing opportunity in the wide areas then he will accurately loft a ball into the vicinity of a teammate in the box to create an opportunity.

At home to Huachipato, he put together an effective performance, showcasing his skill when he gets into good positions where he can play more directly and make faster decisions. When Yanez is able to connect with teammates, namely Victor Mendez who works through balls into the channels for him, he can create good crossing and shooting opportunities as he showed in this match. Yanez received a ball in the channels from Mendez for the 20-year-old winger to make a simple cut-back to Alejandro Chumacero who applied the finish. Seven minutes later, Yanez would have his second goal involvement of the game as Mendez regained possession in midfield to slide a through ball to Yanez who drove into the box and calmly applied the finish.

With the help of Mendez, Yanez was putting in one of the better performances of his fledgling career, as Mendez found Yanez with yet another pass for the 20-year-old to hit the crossbar with a strike as another connection in between the two led to Yanez having a cross blocked. Away to Palestino, Yanez had a chance from a teammate having a misdirected header at goal for the winger to hammer the rebound over. The 20-year-old was played into space to have a wonderful cross into the box as even in his stronger performances, his dribbling is still very lacking. He struggles to impose himself on games if he is deployed in the wide areas and has to beat his man to create a crossing opportunity as he prefers to be played into space.

The 20-year-old would eventually utilize his crossing ability to get an assist when he crossed for Thomas Galdames to score as his season began to round into form as he had 1 goal and 2 assists in two games. At home to Universidad de Chile, he showed himself to be a connection winger as he loves to receive possession and play one-touch passes into the half-space before moving inside to connect play from a more central role where he can make runs into the channels to have high quality crossing opportunities or higher quality shooting opportunities. Even when he receives switch passes, he will need a player inside him to play one-touch passes to as if he looks unsure when driving at his fullback, unable to decide whether to cut inside or drive him to the by-line. He will also normally go for the early crosses or cut-backs when he receives possession in a 1v1 situation against his fullback as during the game, he had one cross blocked and another to an offside player.

Yanez is a good crosser as he becomes an integral player when he gets into positions to play crosses into the box. The 20-year-old would create an opportunity with a lovely curled cross which landed on the head of an attacker with the perfect angle and weighting for the attacker to head wide. Another of Yanez’ shortcomings are his first touch as this is integral to the type of player he is as he rarely sets himself up to beat his man with his first touch, even when receiving possession in the half-space. If he receives possession in the half-space and sets himself up to beat his man, then he would be able to transition into cross or shot with more regularity. He will also need to improve at using his physicality when he receives possession to hold off players or when he is looking to dribble into the box. Yanez is akin to a high-level offensive distributer in basketball who is ineffective during sequences of play but comes alive when he receives the ball in a certain zone of the court near the opposition basket.

In terms of his defensive game, he will support his fullback and win challenges to regain possession in the defensive phase. When he receives possession in between the lines, he will normally look to lay-off the ball, he will need to improve at angling his body when he receives possession in allowing the ball to roll across his body, so he can swivel past a marker and transition directly into a shooting or crossing opportunity. Towards the end of the game, Yanez would notch another assist, receiving possession on the left flank to trade passes with a teammate before crossing into the box onto the head of Cristian Palacios who finished at the back-post. Yanez’ crosses are so well struck that he notched his 5th assist of the season with that delivery as despite his shortcomings, he managed to create 5 chances notching 1 assist during the game, with 13 crosses as this statistic was ballooned by his responsibility as a set-piece taker as well as a 70% pass succession rate in the final third. His assist was a premium Yanez sequence, trading passes with a teammate to get into the perfect crossing situation to assist a goal.

At home to Colo Colo, he regained possession in the opposition half, driving the ball to the by-line with two opposition defenders chasing him when he managed to send a cross into the box that was perfectly angled for a diving header at the keeper. In the home leg of the Copa Chile semi-final, Yanez would receive possession from Mendez on the left flank to cut inside and trade passes with Mendez to have a shot on goal. The 20-year-old would receive possession on the left flank to stand his marker up and thread a pass through two players for Mendez to have a cross blocked before he played a cut-back for a shot to be sent wide. Union Espanola worked a short corner sequence where Yanez received possession to cross into the box for a teammate to send a header wide. Yanez would show some glimmers of hope with his dribbling ability when he received possession in a 1v1 on the left flank to drive the ball to the by-line to beat his marker and send a cross into the box which was headed wide. The 20-year-old repeated the trick to send a tame cross to the near post as if he was more assured with his dribbling who could have cut-back past his marker to have a better view on the box to play a more effective delivery.

Away to Melipilla, he had one of his better performances of the season, he received possession in the central positions to drive the ball forward, muscling his way past one opposition defender and then flicking a pass to a teammate in the wide areas with the outside of his left boot before receiving possession in the left half-space to flick a pass to the wide areas as he made a run into the half-space to receive possession as a cross was played into the box for a missed header. Yanez would move into the central areas to receive possession and lay the ball off to Mendez to receive possession again as he played an outside of the boot flick for the striker to have a wayward shot. For one of the first times in his fledgling career, Yanez would receive possession on the right flank cutting past his marker onto his stronger left foot to drive into the box and steady himself to place a shot which nestled in the right corner of the goal.

Yanez could have a future playing as a left-footed winger on the right flank, in a similar fashion to Red Bull Bragantino’s Artur as he would constantly have the option of cutting inside to his left foot while a fullback would overlap him while he will also have to develop in using his right foot to cross and shoot. This would allow him to drive opposition defenders to the by-line and lob crosses into the box with his right foot while also cutting inside to lob higher quality crosses into the box from the half-space with his stronger left foot. Playing on the flank of his weaker foot would also allow him to draw fouls when he cuts inside as he will put himself in between the ball and his marker when cutting inside and driving the ball into the centre. This positional change could be inevitable for Yanez as he is one of the few wingers regularly playing on the flank of his stronger foot.

However, in his current position on the left flank, he will have to grow as a winger who utilizes combination play to get into space. Against Melipilla, he flicked a pass to a teammate on the touchline while he also created an opportunity for Mendez, receiving possession in the left half-space to cut past his man and play a pass for Mendez in the box to balloon a strike over the crossbar. The 20-year-old would have an opportunity on the counter-attack, driving the ball into the box and cutting past his marker to send his opportunity wide when he could have put the shot on target. The Chilean winger then received a switch pass on the left flank with his fullback overlapping him to thread a pass for the left-back to cross as his side had an opportunity headed over the bar. He then received possession on the same flank to work a ball into the half-space for a combination which led to a cross being blocked. He then won a penalty when he received possession on the left flank to steady himself with his first touch and have a shot cleared off the line with an opposition defender who used his hand to make the deflection.

Despite having a few weak points in his game, Yanez has managed to accrue 2 goals and 6 assists this season, the second most assists in the Chilean Primera Division underlining the immense potential in his game as once he becomes a more polished player, he could develop into a threatening winger at the highest level. The first port of call for improvement is his dribbling as he does attempt dribbles but will need to be more confident in his close control and shielding of the ball. He will also need to be better at recognizing spaces to drive into while being quicker in drawing and skipping past players when receiving possession. In terms of his ability to receive possession in between the lines, he will need to be mindful of his body orientations as well as allowing the ball to roll across his body with a more measured directional first touch to allow him to more effectively transition into shooting and crossing opportunities.

Relying on early crosses means that he is not focused on getting into the best positions to be more proficient with his crossing as he may have low quality crosses or lose possession due to having crosses blocked. Improving his dribbling as well as his ability to receive possession and connect play in between the lines will help him manoeuvre into better positions to play crosses and have shots on goal, making him a more effective winger. His future could probably lie as an inverted right winger which would provide a more immediate remedy to his dribbling issues while it would be interesting to see if he can replicate his deliveries on the right flank.

Union Espanola have already had a taste of South American continental football as they could use their young core to have more of the same experiences in a highly competitive Chilean Primera Division. Yanez is putting together a strong season as one of his side’s most talented regular players while it is important that he continues to round out his game at the Chilean club. He has recently received his first call-up to the Chilean National Team as his spell of strong form has been rewarded, joining fellow Union Espanola academy product Palacios in playing for La Roja. The 20-year-old is one of many intriguing diamonds in the rough in Chilean football as he has the potential to grow into a high-level attacker in European football. If he adds dribbling to his crossing ability then he will become a cost-effective prospect for clubs in the middle-rung of European football.