Prospect Scouting: Marcus Thuram
The son of French superstar, Marcus Thuram is breaking out of his father's shadow.
In this scouting report, we’re going to look at the young French attacker, Marcus Thuram. If that surname sounds familiar, yep, he’s the son of former French World Cup winner, Lilian Thuram.
Name: Marcus Thuram
Age: 23 (Born 1997)
Position: Attacker
Club: Borussia Mönchengladbach
Rookie Year: The first sticker I can find of his is from 2018-18 French season, when he played for EA Guingamp
About The Player
Borussia Mönchengladbach have one of the more exciting forward lines in Germany at the moment, and one of their main men in attack is French forward/winger Marcus Thuram.
There’s a lot to like about the way Thuram goes about the game, especially if you like efficient and exciting attacking play - and let’s be honest, who doesn’t?
Thuram is incredibly good at the following things:
Dribbles: 7.25 per 90
Key passes: 0.53 per 90
Getting touches in the attacking penalty box: 4.74 per 90
Goals: 0.39 per 90
So, as you can probably tell by those numbers, he’s definitely one of the better attacking threats in Germany.
Thuram isn’t a small pacy winger like you might imagine zipping up and down the side lines. Instead, at over 190cm, he uses his physical assets along with his skills create for himself and others.
Odds are if you’ve seen Mönchengladbach play last season, you would have seen Thuram creating chances by dribbling into the attacking third and creating plays for his side. While he is right-footed, Thuram plays mostly on the left and cuts back on to his natural foot, as you can see from his positional heat map below.
The benefit of a player like Thuram cutting back in is that it gives him more passing options, and opens his body up for a shot or to carry the ball infield. It also sets him up to receive the ball inside the box.
However, a lot of Thuram’s moves start off with a dribble into space, or trying to beat his man using his skills, strength and pace. Thuram averaged 7.25 dribbles per 90, which is good for 10th in Bundesliga - and his 52% success rate with dribbles is very good for someone with that many attempts per match.
A lot of these dribbles are a 1 vs 1 too, with Thuram having the third most 1 vs 1 dribbles in the top flight of Germany - beating established wingers like Jadon Sancho.
At times, he can hold the ball a little too long and lose possession. However, most of the time, he does play a decent ball into a teammate.
As mentioned before, Thuram is big guy, at 192cm and 88kgs, and he doesn’t mind throwing his weight around a bit too. He has around 15 offensive duels per 90 minutes, which is top 15 in the Bundesliga.
He is also strong in the air for someone who usually plays on the left. Because of Thuram’s size and strength in the air, he usually forces a miss-match with the opponent’s fullback. Honestly, as someone who played fullback on occasion in my playing days, the thought having to line up against someone like Thuram would be a complete change of pace.
Marcus Thuram for Collectors
Borussia Mönchengladbach have been a club that’s built strong talent for a while now, and Marcus Thuram is a part of a new wave of great players at the club.
For a collector, Thuram’s next season is a huge one. Borussia Mönchengladbach are in the Champions League this season coming for the first time in four years, so Thuram will be able to show his talents off against some of the best sides around. Mönchengladbach are a sneaky-good side too, so if they get a good draw I can definitely see them going through the group stages.
Depending on the Champions League, I’d assume Borussia Mönchengladbach would look to sell Thuram. While the club are one of the bigger six or seven clubs in Germany, they still look to sell of their better players, which is great for collectors.
Once Thuram makes a move, it’ll be incredibly important for his and anyone who is looking to invest in his stickers. Like any young player, a wrong transfer can have you treading water for a few seasons - then next thing you know, you’re trying to re-ignite your career at 27. Not ideal for collectors.
I did see a few rumors linking him to Liverpool this offseason, but there doesn’t look to be anything there. Which is good, because that’s not a great move for him to be honest. Mane is set up on the left, and while Thuram is good, I don’t see Mane getting dropped for him anytime soon. That means he’d rotate thorugh the squad.
I’d definitely keep an eye on how he performs in the Champions League. If he plays well, he can certainly make a move to bigger club soon.