Idrissa Thiam

Born in September 2000 in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Idrissa Thiam is a winger or attacking midfielder who plays for Al-Kharitiyah SC in Qatar’s Second Division. Idrissa first played for ASAC Concorde in his home country, followed by several spells at clubs in Spain: Cádiz CF, SCR Peña Desportiva, SDC Polvorín, and CD Lugo. Before joining his current club, he played for Al-Mesaimeer SC, also in Qatar’s second tier. Internationally, he has one goal in thirty-two caps for the Mauritanian national team.

The 24-year-old has a very appealing physical profile for the positions he can occupy on the pitch. Morphologically mesomorphic and of medium height (1.77 metres tall), Thiam is agile, with good acceleration and good movement speed. He has an unusual ability to propel himself for the type of player he is, which gives him an advantage when it comes to finishing balls that arrive in the air in the opposing penalty area – focus on his heading technique (he always finishes from the top down, which gives him power and precision at that moment).

From an attacking point of view, Idrissa Thiam is a technically advanced player with a lot of nerve on the ball. A master of deception, Idrissa is quick to execute, which allows him to outwit his opponent and get out of one-on-one situations with a spatial and temporal advantage. When this happens, and Thiam plays from the left, he tends to run a diagonal from outside to inside in subsequent actions. In other words, he can either pass to someone in the half-space, followed by a move to attack the space, something that, when he is served back, allows him to go to the by-line and look for a late cross with his weaker foot; or he can invade the half-space on the run and look to finish at the far post – he usually puts more power than precision into this type of action, which is correct, although the shot doesn’t always go in a good direction. Playing from the right, it’s normal to see him looking for a cross into the corner of the penalty area. He usually does this by giving the ball an effect that makes it run away from the defenders and allows a colleague in a good position to appear at the far post. He has a refined crossing technique and can place the ball where and how he wants.

Whether he’s playing inside or outside, he’s a player who always tries to direct his receptions: he does so by controlling the ball with his far foot, to accelerate with his dominant foot – Idrissa can do this with both feet, because although he’s right-footed, his left foot is a highly developed stick that gives him benefits at all times of the game. When he occupies interior areas, it’s normal to see him almost as a ball launcher into space: he waits for his team-mates to move, respects them, and executes millimetre passes through the spaces between the elements of the opposing defence line. What’s more, as he has a keen understanding and vision of the game, he can easily turn the centre of play to the opposite corridor: the ball comes out in a good direction, but it can come out more direct and with less of a balloon effect so that it can reach the team-mate on the opposite side more quickly – it’s normal to see him change the centre of play in moments of offensive transition. When he tries to finish, I’d like to highlight how he tackles aerial balls, as I’ve already mentioned, especially the counter-moves he makes to attack the blind side of defenders. When it comes to balls arriving at his feet, it’s normal to see him raise his head to realise what’s in front of him and decide accordingly. He’s a player who hits the ball well and causes danger because of it.

In terms of set-pieces, Idrissa Thiam, being a player who hits the ball well, has shown some success in this area when it comes to direct free-kicks, penalties, or corners – at this moment, he’s able to place the ball where he wants and how he wants due to his good crossing technique.
Defensively, I wasn’t able to draw many conclusions about the player. Even so, I could see that he has a good competitive attitude, which allows him to react to a loss and chase in the opposite direction to his attacking movement to regain possession. Even so, he could improve his competitive attitude, especially when he slows down his play after carrying out some actions with the ball.

Idrissa Thiam’s career is peculiar. Even so, he has already competed in the Spanish second tier and is a regular in his country’s toughest games. Based on what I’ve seen, especially at the last AFCON, I think it would be possible to see him in a mid-table team in Portugal’s top flight. If he can improve his performance in terms of goals and assists, I think he has the potential to be a source of imbalance in many teams and to shake up the opposition’s defensive organisations, which could give him a starting place.