Nico Elvedi

Nico Elvedi
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Nico Elvedi





Current Club: Borussia Monchengladbach

Previous Clubs: FC Zurich

Loan Clubs: N/A





International: Switzerland 18 caps 1 goal

Trophies Won: N/A





Elvedi is a very standard modern day centre-back, who looks more like a midfielder playing at the back, as their ability on the ball is more important than their ability to defend. In that respect he is decent, extremely comfortable on the ball, even under pressure, though that can lead to him overplaying or putting teammates in trouble with a pass.



Technically he is very sound, bringing the ball under close control almost always immediately and able to pick a good pass. His technique is good enough that Elvedi does not look at all out of place on the left-side of the central pairing or back three, despite being very right-footed.



In fact his technique is seen as good enough to be used as cover at right-back at times, though Elvedi is not the paciest player, which is a real weakness at full-back. It is his defensive play that brings the real worries though, as the Swiss defender's lack of recovery pace can be a problem when he sometimes gets caught ball watching.



Elvedi does seem to possess good strength, as he usually wins physical tussles with a forward over a loose high ball, meaning he is almost always the one to get his head to it, though his accuracy with his head is not the best. The biggest worry for me probably stems from his lack of real pace though, as he will often stand too far off a forward, allowing them plenty of space to shoot, cross or pass.



At 24, Elvedi is still young enough to improve substantially with experience, which he needs to do a lot of to be among the top ranks of centre-backs. With the current Gladbach style of play, I am not sure that it will help him improve, as it is so focused (from what I have seen) on playing out from the back, rather than on defenders actually defending.





Requested by - Deependra