Performing at the top football level is about playing various tactical roles — and a bit of madness. Modern football is like fashion as the global trends are ever-changing: if a powerful centre-back with bullet headers was a must-have in the past, now he would be the first to go during a transfer window.
In this article, we name attributes the best players will possess in the future, as well as those who already boast them.
Marcin Bulka: tall sweeper keeper
Managers from Pep Guardiola to Vincent Kompany, hopelessly bottom of the Premier League with Burnley, insist on having a ball-playing goalkeeper. We get it — technically-gifted goalies belong in the game even at the expense of a few blunders per season.
But what if we tell you that the goalkeeper of the future is a muscled giraffe capable of stopping shots and lob pinpoint passes to strikers?
We’ve chosen Nice’s Marcin Bulka as one of the most complete goalkeepers in the world these days – he is also a breakthrough of the 2023/24 season, ranking high in save and clean sheet percentage in Europe’s top five leagues.
Bulka has everything you want in your modern goalkeeper: great reflexes and one-on-one play but also superb ability to rush out, start attacks, and display calmness under pressure.
The average height of a first-choice Premier League goalkeeper is 1.91m. Ederson, David Raya, and Andre Onana, goalies you associate with a great ball-playing ability, are as tall or shorter. Bulka, in turn, is two metres tall but still fantastic with his feet.
Look at his fantastic choice of pass on several occasions against PSG:
We believe this will be the global tactical trend of the future: tall goalkeepers who are also brilliant at ball distribution. It’s already happening, in fact: Real Madrid have recently signed 2.02m-tall prospect Ilya Voloshyn who seems to possess all these skills.
Jan Paul van Hecke: ability to be an ‘advanced’ defender
Ball-playing centre-backs abound in the modern game but what would be the future of this position? Next-level playmaking! Soon, a central defender will be one more midfielder sitting in the deepest position.
Roberto De Zerbi is pioneering the new approach at Brighton and his defender Jan Paul van Hecke is a perfect example. The Dutchman is second in Europe by progressive carrying distance and one of the Premier League’s most precise passers.
The Dutchman’s season heatmap shows how advanced his positioning is during games.
Van Hecke consistently makes plenty of touches in the opposition half and rarely plays backwards. The variety of covered areas is truly impressive this season – he is an all-round centre-back!
In 21 Premier League appearances this season, the defender has completed 27 actions leading to shots and three leading to goals.
Van Hecke’s creativity in the build-up doesn’t mean he ignores his defensive duties. His pace and mobility allow him to track back quickly and do his main job.
Bonus part: look what he did to Erling Haaland 🫣
Warren Zaire-Emery: ability to do absolutely everything in midfield
Ball-winning midfielders, as well as creative playmakers, will always be held in high esteem, but a more dynamic type of a player, the absolute all-rounder, is the one embodying the new generation of footballers.
One of the shiniest gems of these days, Warren Zaire-Emery can be compared to a Swiss Army knife for his exceptional functionality. The teenager doesn’t even have a fixed position, having played in central midfield, defensive midfield and everywhere on the right wing – that’s where Luis Enrique tends to exploit him most often.
One of his best goals for the Parisians came exactly from the right wing after he smartly intercepted the ball, linked up with his teammate and went on a run down the flank.
Players like Jude Bellingham and Gavi have already anticipated the trend: they have no clear tactical role, yet their impact is priceless. Generally, they can be described as box-to-box midfielders, but there are even more things they do on the pitch, adapting to their teams’ needs and the opposition class. Zaire-Emery could even become the upgraded version of both.
“He’s a complete player. What he does at 17... not many players can do it. He can play in every team,” PSG academy manager Yohan Cabaye told The Athletic.
Viktor Gyokeres: ability to be clinical AND useful in support
Erling Haaland is one-of-a-kind goalscorer, but he probably wishes he was as good as Viktor Gyokeres at supporting attacks.
Harry Kane aside, you won’t find a better option if you’re looking for an incredible goalscorer who also covers a lot of ground through dribbling and link-ups.
First of all, let’s compare Gyokeres’ and Haaland's goalscoring outputs at pre-top clubs: Coventry and Sporting for Viktor, and Molde and RB Salzburg for Erling.
– Haaland: a goal per every 86.8 minutes
– Gyokeres: a goal per every 156.4 minutes.
The latter, however, has risen to a completely new level in his last two seasons, averaging a goal per every 134 minutes – that’s 54 goals in less than two full campaigns. This season alone, he has almost as many goals for Sporting as appearances made.
Gyokeres is a pure no. 9 that does many things of a no. 10. The Swedish forward averages 1.8 key passes and almost 50 touches per game which shows how strongly he’s been involved in his team’s buildup.
Gyokeres creates chances for himself and for others – this comparison shows a huge gap between him and Haaland in this respect.
Self-created shots per 90 minutes:
– Gyokeres: 22.7%
– Haaland: 6.1%
Open-play shots created for others per 90 minutes:
– Gyokeres: 3.8
– Haaland: 1.7
Expected assists:
– Gyokeres: 0.21
– Haaland: 0.09
All-rounders like Gyokeres will thrive in the future as football leans towards 2-3-5 in the attacking phase. Why have a lanky pony up front when you can have a Viktor Gyokeres?
By the way, his release clause at Sporting Lisbon stands at €100m. No doubt it could be triggered by a big club this summer already.
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The aforementioned players already represent the future football is heading into. What other tactical roles will be trendy in the coming years or even decades, in your opinion?
