Kevin Danso

Image from: images/cf67477622616bfc806c34a401af2cf0.JPG

Kevin Danso

Current Club: Tottenham Hotspur.
Previous Clubs: Lens, Augsburg, MK Dons, Reading.
Loan Clubs: Tottenham Hotspur, Fortuna Dusseldorf, Southampton.


International: Austria 25 caps.
Trophies Won: Europa League 2024/25.


If you were going to build a typical Ange Postecoglou centre-back, Danso could well be what you come up with. Very fast across the ground, big, strong, powerful, very good on the ball but all over the place defensively. I was not impressed after watching footage of him, so I went onto YouTube to watch some highlight reels of the good bits, to try and see what I have missed. The very first one listed was headlined something like 'Danso, all the attributes to be top class, except for a brain', and that really does sum him up very well to be fair.

On the plus side, he does have an almost Virgil van Dijk level of passing range, not quite as accurate but still very good, he seems to like the diagonal to the winger just as much as the Dutchman! His recovery pace is excellent, as you would expect from a player signed initially by Postecoglou, with a decent speed on the turn, very good compared to most centre-backs. He is very comfortable on the ball as well.

Danso has good strength and often uses his body well to muscle opponents off the ball. He is strong in the air and attacks the ball well at both ends of the pitch. The 26 year old is also willing to put his body on the line to block shots or to get on the end of set pieces. Unfortunately, all of those good points do come with major caveats.

The biggest caveat is that lack of brain power. He relies very heavily on his pace because he does not read the game very well at all and is reacting to danger, rather than anticipating it. There is a reason why van Dijk makes the game look easy, whereas Danso looks like he is always on the edge of disaster - intelligence. Van Dijk is looking for, and preparing for, danger in advance, whereas Danso is reacting to the appearance of the danger and then chasing after it.

It leaves him often making rash challenges in dangerous areas, usually needless challenges that could have been avoided by good positional sense and anticipation. His pace saves him from being a lower league defender, in all honesty. One that would be highly prized for his ability on the ball, but lower league nonetheless.

Requested by - N/A