Kevin Lopez – Quilmes penetrative midfield conduit
Last year, Kevin Lopez signed his first professional contract after impressing at youth level for Quilmes as the 20-year-old sees himself as multi-faceted midfielder, being able to play in the six-space as well as in the eight and ten space. When he was developing as a youngster, he identified with Juan Roman Riquelme while recently, he has been looking to Leandro Paredes as a player he seeks to emulate. In 10 professional games in the Argentine Primera Nacional, his coach exclaimed that he had played ‘the best appearance from the youth academy in recent years’ as he is now a fully-fledged member of Quilmes’ starting lineup as one of the better players.
Lopez is from a rough neighbourhood in Cordoba as he is a lithe and lanky attacker with a phenomenal first touch and graceful technical ability. He is capable of playing as a deep-lying playmaker as well as an attacking playmaker as he has fulfilled both roles in the early stages of his career. In the former, he can receive possession, turn out of tight spaces and work passing interchanges to drive his team forward with clever one-twos while he is also capable of evading pressure with penetrative passes. In the final third, his movement and through-ball ability make him a player who is capable of creating chances for his team as his first touch in between the lines, penchant for connections and orchestrating attacking moves allow him to influence attacking moves in the opposition half, playing the penetrative pass for the assist or playing the pass that creates the assist.
At home to San Martin de Tucuman, he regained possession after a turnover in the opposition half to play an elegant pass to a teammate to facilitate a switch ball for an attacking move. Lopez was playing as an attacking midfielder, occupying positions in between the lines while also closing down the six-space as his team were pressing with a diamond formation as in a pressing situation, his team would win a turnover as the ball was played back to Lopez to lob a one-touch pass that landed perfectly at the feet of a striker in the box to send the shot wide. The 20-year-old also loves to move into the channels as he received possession in the right half-space, took a touch and angled a perfectly weighted through ball into a runner as his pass was too heavy. The young playmaker dropped in the deeper midfield areas to receive possession, cut past a marker and play a progressive pass with the outside of his right boot before receiving possession to hold possession and play the ball to the flank.
Despite being in the fledgling stages of his career, the 20-year-old is long limbed yet well-built as he has the physique to hold possession in tight spaces, winning a shoulder to shoulder battle with a defender on the left flank before working a pass to a teammate. Due to the mixture of physique and technique, Lopez always seems like he has so much time in possession, holding the ball, twisting and turning, shielding the ball before he works the perfect progressive pass or to work an intuitive one-two with a teammate to receive possession in a better area and drive the ball forward. Lopez is also not averse to playing the ball with his first touch as he would receive possession from his right winger to play a one-touch lob to his winger in space to continue his run and drive into the opposition half. In another situation, Lopez received possession with his stronger right foot to play a penetrative pass with his weaker left before making a movement towards the half-space where he did not receive possession.
The 20-year-old is also engaged defensively as his team would lose possession in the opposition half while in the counter-press, he would push up to make a timely interception to regain possession. Lopez is capable of breath-taking moments with the ball at his feet, receiving possession in the deeper areas, near the right touchline, elegantly rolling the ball past one marker to flick the ball down the line to a teammate. In a counter-pressing situation, he was perfectly positioned to regain possession and roll a pass in between the lines before he received possession in the six-space, skipping away from a challenge and driving the ball backwards before turning once more to drive the ball towards the flank to work a one-two with his winger and ping an accurate switch ball to the opposite flank as this sequence led to an opportunity being created. He received possession in the six-space once more, nonchalantly rolling the ball past a marker before playing a penetrative pass to the ten space for a sequence where Quilmes nearly had a high-quality shot on goal. Moments later, after his side lost possession, he would regain possession in the counter-press, twisting and turning away from markers to play a pass in between the lines and receive a lay-off before playing a penetrative one-touch pass as he was on the end of a crunching tackle from a defender while his teammate hammered a strike home.
In the away match against the same opposition, he pushed forward to make a brilliant tackle in yet another counter-pressing situation. He received possession in the six-space to play a penetrative outside of the boot pass to the nine-space to instigate a counter-attacking situation. His attributes are applicable to every midfield position as he received possession in the six-space, turning away from a defender to drive the ball in between two defenders and play a back-pass to the goalkeeper. The ability to twist and turn with possession which allowed him to earn an assist in the other game against San Martin de Tucuman is the same facet of his game that allowed him to hold possession and avoid losing possession in the six-space so that his team could begin to play out of the back.
His outing against Atletico de Rafaela was the performance that his Head Coach was talking about as he began the game by receiving possession in the eight space, swivelling past his marker to drive the ball forward before twisting and turning in the opposition half to lob a switch ball to the flank. Lopez received possession in the six-space once more, allowing the ball to roll across his body to his stronger right foot to swivel and lob a pass to the left flank for a crossing opportunity. He then regained possession with an interception in the opposition half before receiving possession in the right half-space and pinging another accurate switch to the left flank. He received possession in the same area to spin away from a marker and play a back-pass before moving into the ten space to receive a deep pass to play an accurate switch to the left. Lopez received possession in the same area to shield the ball from a defender and flick a progressive pass to a teammate for a crossing situation.
The 20-year-old would receive possession in the six-space, spinning away from a challenge before playing a pass to the left flank as he moved into the left half-space to receive possession once more, surging past two opposition players and into the opposition half where he poked a pass to the nine-space with the outside of his boot to make a run and receive his attacker’s flick-on as he controlled the ball with his left foot angled a perfectly weighted through ball to an attacker who applied the finish. Lopez managed to evade pressure and assist a goal with two one-twos, touching the ball four times as well as utilizing his ball-carrying ability and movement as he exhibited his genius. He then played a one-touch pass to the nine-space to instigate a counter-attacking move before creating another opportunity, receiving possession in the six-space to twist and turn before playing a lobbed pass into the box for a teammate to have a shot on goal but he was offside.
Lopez then notched a goal to go with his assist when he received possession near the halfway line, skipping past a defender and driving the ball forward before turning away from two defenders to drive the ball forward and lash a strike home from range. In a tight area, he then played a one-touch pass to the flank before creating another opportunity when he played a one-touch through ball to a striker who had a 1v1 with the goalkeeper saved. In the defensive phase, he made an interception before receiving possession once more to switch a pass to the left flank as the only thing that could stop him in this game was a rough challenge as he had to go off with an injury. At home to Guillermo Brown, he received possession in the right half-space to play a line-breaking pass to the ten space. The 20-year-old then created a shooting opportunity when he received possession in the ten space, drove the ball forward and spread a pass to the flank for a teammate to have a shot saved. Defensively, he positioned himself perfectly to make a clearance from an opposition crossing situation. Lopez then received possession in between the lines, striding past a marker before working a pass to a teammate moving into the ten space as he received possession once more to swivel and attempt a through ball which was intercepted.
Lopez is currently ranked in the top 30 U23 players in expected assists with a number of 1.21 for 2 assists as he also ranks in the top 30 in the same age-group for dribbling as the only deep-lying midfielder on the list. For through balls, he ranks in the top 10 for players in the U23 age-group, also ranking in the top 10 for through balls per 90 for his age-group. He ranks in the top 15 for key passes in his age-group, top 20 for long passes as for passes to the final third, he ranks 3rd for U23s and in the top 20 for all players in the Argentine Second Division as for passes to the final third per 90, he ranks in the top 25. For progressive passes for U23s, he ranks in the top 25 as for progressive runs, he ranks in the top 10 while for ball progression by runs, he ranks in the top 10 in his age-group. For deep completions, he ranks in the top 25 of all available players.
Lopez’ metrics and video show that he may not fulfil his dream of being a Paredes-like deep-lying playmaker in the early stages of his career as he thrives in a box-to-box midfield-role where he is able to face play, work connections, drive the ball forward and occupy spaces in between the lines. As a deep-lying playmaker, he receives possession and is constantly playing backwards or sideways passes which is greatly limiting for his creative ability while when he is operating primarily in the ten space, his game can be focused on receiving possession in between the lines and laying off the ball. In the early stages of his career, Lopez will also need to improve at influencing games with his penetrative passing, ball-carrying and creativity as the 20-year-old can have games where he is a passenger. Lopez thrives in a box-to-box role as it meshes his ability to connect play in the deeper areas, giving him the freedom to roam into the attacking areas to receive possession to play defensive splitting passes to create opportunities. Defensively, he normally wins possession in the counter-press as with his technical ability, he can recycle possession after winning possession to create opportunities. His positioning in the defensive phase is sound as his size and mobility allows him to cover spaces to make interceptions as well as win 50/50 battles.
Lopez has a contract until December 2023 as he has impressed in the early stages of his career as he could develop into an undervalued commodity on the transfer market. The 20-year-old could be an option for teams like Basel in Switzerland, Stuttgart in the Bundesliga as well as teams like Rayo Vallecano, Las Palmas, Espanyol, Granada, Girona and Sporting Gijon. In Ligue 1, teams like Toulouse, RC Lens and Reims would also be good moves as he would particularly thrive in the Italian Serie A for teams like Empoli, Torino, Lazio, Fiorentina, Spezia, Bologna, Sassuolo, Sampdoria as well as Brescia, Benevento and Venezia in Serie B. In the coming months, Lopez will continue to accrue experience and will continue to develop as a plethora of teams will be tracking the Argentine youngster.
