Edmilson Junior    21    Midfielder    Standard Liege    Belgium

Skinny

Edmilson Junior is blisteringly quick and rarely happier when he has the ball at his feet so he can take on the defender. When he does that, he is a joy to watch. The Belgian is a really confident runner, has excellent balance and rides tackles well – refusing to let it knock him off stride as he cuts loose.

When the ball is played in his direction, you don’t dare to look away in case you miss something you might not believe has happened anyway. When out wide and attacking the opposition defence there are few that can match him.

If he is closed down correctly, stopped from building up steam and hurried in possession; he can struggle. He isn’t technically perfect. In theory Edmilson knows what he wants to do with the ball, and regularly chooses the right option with what he tries to do but can be sometimes let down in execution. Sometimes.

2016 has been…

Born in Liege, Edmilson Junior was a junior with the club for six years but struggled to make any impact. Instead his first professional contract came by way of second division Sint-Truiden.

In four years with the club, Edmilson became the player he is now – helping the club to promotion in his third season and then lighting up the Jupiler League last year, as Bjorn DeCock the Belgium editor of BeNeFoot confirmed: “Edmilson made a huge impact in his first season in the Jupiler Pro League with Sint-Truiden. In that first season on the main stage he played like somebody with tons of experience.”

“Later he followed his former coach Yannick Ferrera to Standard Liège. Standard are still looking for continuity and a balanced squad but if Edmilson can work on his chance-creations and goal numbers he will soon shine in a bigger competition.”

What’s next?

If Edmilson keeps going in the Belgian top flight as he has managed in the last 18 months – 12 goals and nine assists in 45 appearances – then it would be reasonably expected that others clubs will be interested.

He has worked hard for his chance, taking the step down in a division to eventually come back and is a better player for it. And he has started really well back at Standard. He’s netted five times already this term and picked up a number of man of the match awards at the same time.

Momentum is very much on his side.

However we can’t help but hark back to Liege’s initial decision to let him leave the club in 2012. Obviously there was something lacking when he played in their youth teams and there is a small worry that if things get a little turbulent or go slightly pear shaped for a few weeks, just how will Edmilson react.

We’re almost certainly being overly pessimistic; but also a little careful. 2016 has been a huge jump in the right direction but we almost feel like we need another year to be sure on him.

C+    Let’s see where he is in 12 months’ time