Matias Siltanen Scout Report

 

Date of birth: 29 March 2007

Country: Finland

Position: Central Midfield

Height: 173cm

Preferred foot: Both

Club: KuPS

Scandinavia has always been a scouts goldmine with talented players constantly being developed by big and small clubs alike. In recent years we have seen many of such talents making the move to some of the biggest leagues in Europe or stepping stone leagues. Lucas Bergvall, Hugo Larsson and Sebastian Nanasi being some of those talents making the move overseas. 17 year old Matias Siltanen is no doubt going to follow in their footsteps sooner rather than later.

Sometimes players just make the game look easy and make you sit back and enjoy the style of play. This is the case here with the young Finn. A central midfielder who could also play in the CDM role due to his physical style of play, Siltanen certainly does not look like a rookie and is vastly improving game by game.

Starting 24 of the 27 games he has played this season, he looks more liek a veteran than a teenager on the pitch. The biggest strength he possesses is his ball winning ability, often diving in on the stretch but winning the ball a lot for this style of play. In fact it gets more impresive when you see he only commits an average of 0.5 fouls per game alongside his equally impressive 4.0 interceptions per game and his 8.1 balls recovered per game. 

The modern central midfielder often are required to press the opposition, something Siltanen does with ease. Often taking the ball off his opponent as they turn, this is due to his incredible timing often backing off until his opponent is about to recieve the ball. This is why his balls recovered per game is so high, often stealing the ball in the final third. 

Another strength is his quick decision making. Now of course at 17 years old the decision isn't always the correct one but more often than not the speed of his movements, particularly with the ball is what catches the eye. He is very likely to move the ball if being pressed which does result in him being on the back end of some pretty rough challenges. Matias will run with long strides, covering more ground than normal which makes him a very good threat carrying the ball into the final third. He isn't the strongest player but he is very intelligent in using his body to shield opponents away from the ball while under pressure.

One of the areas I would like to see improve is his goals return. Only scoring once this season although he takes less than 1 shot per game at 0.7 per 90. This is likely to increase as he develops and I think playing in a traditional 4-3-3 seen in high scoring European teams or even a switch into a more traditional box to box role will likely see him with more opportunites to find the back of the net. This is also likely to help his assist numbers with him only posting 2 assists this year. Though the ability is there with an incredible 93% pass success rate this season.

Ideal Club:

It is hard to pinpoint the exact club Matias Siltanen fits due to his age and various style of play. But for most Scandanavian players, especially those from smaller teams, the path seems to be making a move to a bigger Scandinavian team such as Brondby, Bodo or Kobenhagen before moving to Germany, Holland or Belgium. This has been the pathway for such players like Isak Bergmann Johannesson and a similar move wouldn't harm the young Finn's development.