Fernando Diniz’s Copa Libertadores winning team have been the talk of the town.
Dinizismo’s revolutionary style is a breath of fresh air, especially to European fans who saw both England and Europe dominated by the polar opposite style of Pep Guardiola’s Man City - a heavily system-based team.
At the heart of Diniz’s relationism is defensive-midfielder André. He has been an integral figure for Fluminense this season and Ben Mattinson is on hand to explain exactly why.
André Player Profile
By now, we all know André is very good defensively, but his tackling is worth discussing in more detail.
He's very capable of making tackles without going to ground due to his reading of the game, anticipation of passes and defending transitions well. Using his footballing brain, he positions his body well in order to break up the play.
André has 2.29 tackles per 90 in the past 365 days and 1.17 interceptions. He’s quite quick too, using his recovery pace to close down attackers if he’s slightly out of position. Although he’s so good at winning the ball he’s so much more than a destroyer.
Progressive midfielder
The young Brazilian is a quality dribbler and ball-carrier. He has a good turning radius and loves to burst forward to influence the game in attacking areas. In fact, prior to Fluminense, at youth level he was an attack minded player (even playing as a forward). André enjoys collecting the ball from deep and carrying it into space.
He does this with such power and style, but with a touch of elegance. Drifting by players with ease, it’s this quality which makes him so press resistant.
On top of this, the Brazilian international has tremendous stamina - to do all this throughout the 90 minutes consistently is highly impressive.
Stats speak for themselves
As a deep lying midfielder, the 22-year-old can also act as a playmaker due to his passing ability. He loves to drop deep between the centre-backs to receive the ball and recycle possession, alongside carrying out plenty of progressive passes (6.21).
A technically secure midfielder with 93.9% pass completion from a very high volume of passes (78.46 attempted, 73.68 completed) is what has caught the eye.
André doesn’t play a high number of long passes (6.96) but completes a lot of them (5.64) giving a success rate of 81% (top 4%). An average of 6.70 passes into the final third (top 8%) is another indication of how he’s able to progress play for Fluminense in many different methods.
Mentality
It’s impossible to talk about André without speaking about his physicality & mentality. At 5’9” you’d think he’s not the most physically imposing but that couldn’t be more wrong.
André is a typical South American midfield dog who is super physical and aggressive in duels. André is a master of the ‘dark arts’, he’s the player who loves gamesmanship and the battles with the opponent. However, this does bring his issues with his discipline.
In the 2023 season, André has 16 yellow cards, 1 red from a 2nd yellow & 1 red in 53 games.
André’s role at Fluminense
Diniz’s relationism has attracted a lot of attention due to it’s nature of space manipulation and a lack of strict positions.
A lot of it’s principles are built on futsal. Players will constantly insterchange positions so André can often be seen at CB, DM, RB, LB, RM, LM, CM - basically everywhere - but mainly in more defensive positions. This means André has great spatial awareness due to every player in the system needing to be on it to make it work.
However, this lack of focus on being in a fixed position may be hard to adapt out of if he signs for a team who intends to play him as the lone 6 who has to have a lot of positional discipline.
For this reason, when he leaves, it may be best to go to a team who play him in a role that gives him more freedom, most likely as an 8 or in a double-pivot.
Who should André sign for?
Liverpool
I like the fit with Liverpool, however, not if he’s their lone no.6 playing with two attacking 8s, for the reasons mentioned above. He can adapt to this role but it’ll take time and I’m not sure whether Liverpool have that luxury.
However, if he played as an 8 with another DM and Szoboszlai as the attacking midfielder, this would be more suited to the Brazilian. He would certainly suit Liverpool’s system due to Klopp’s high intensity pressing nature.
Reports suggest Liverpool have cooled their interest, but we'll have to wait and see.
Fulham
I really like this move if it happens. It’s most likely putting a plan in place if Palhinha is sold, but I can imagine him doing well at Fulham where expectations and pressure wouldn’t be as high. He’d also be playing alongside compatriots Andreas Pereira, Willian, Carlos Vinícius and Rodrigo Muniz.
Alongside Reed in a double pivot, you’d have two DMs who are able to win the ball and create from deep.
Arsenal
The North London club are in need of reinforcment in their midfield for the future at both the 6 and 8 positions. At 6, Rice is there for now and the future but players such as Partey (injury prone), Elneny (likely to retire soon) and Jorginho (31), won’t be there for the long-term.
André could come in and act as cover for Rice but may also start as an 8 to form a double pivot with Rice. It’s here where he’d have freedom to drive forward as Rice drops deep to protect him and vise-versa.
Manchester United
Simply, no. He’s a good profile fit for them, however, there’s so much uncertainty at the club right now that it wouldn’t be the best move for his development compared to other linked clubs. That being said, he’s an obvious Casemiro understudy/replacement, but he’s not guaranteed to play a lot with Casemiro, Amrabat, Mount, Eriksen, McTominay and Mainoo.
Let’s see where André ends up, but he’s certainly a player I think can be influential on the biggest stage at the highest level and will be an important component of Brazil’s midfield for years to come.
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