Scouting Report: Jonas Wind

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As every good article starts….

I was looking for Christian Benteke replacements for Crystal Palace (hopefully I get to tell you why one day).

Actually, no articles start like that… But that’s what happened.

When I was doing my research into some numbers, I kind of stumbled across a guy who I’d seen a little bit of - and has been in some transfer rumors… So I wanted to learn some more.

Today, we’ll look at Danish target man, Jonas Wind.

Player Information

Name: Jonas Wind
Age: 22
Position: Striker
Club: Copenhagen
National Team: Denmark

Minutes

When discussing minutes, we look at how often a player is playing first team football and the level they’re doing it.

Copenhagen are currently sitting third in Denmark, which is a solid level - however it isn’t exactly a top five league. There’s probably 3-4 good teams in the league and Copenhagen is one of them.

Wind is a regular starter at Copenhagen, and is often found leading the line - one of the first names on the team sheet.

Feel

Feel is always hard to judge without watching bulk 90 minute performances, so I had to base this off a lot of the snippets of games that I’ve seen, along with watching a bunch of his actions on some scouting software that I have.

However, what I’ve seen I really like.

He holds up well when the ball needs to be held up. Makes runs when they’re needed to be made, and can make the pass to set up a player.

Granted, this is in a league where he’s at one of the very top teams, so it’s hard to overstep.

Still, I’m giving him a 4 for feel. That might be a tad high, and that’ll adjust as his opposition improves, but I like what I’ve seen.

Progression

The days of having a big number nine that holds up the ball and doesn’t do much else are numbered at best - and in the very best leagues, have been dead for a while.

So, being strong in the air and a goal scorer isn’t enough.

We can look at Wind’s on-field actions below and see that he definitely works his way around the ground.

Wind gets a lot of ball and you can see a lot of blue/green squares - those squares represent shorter passes.

You can understand though, while he does help in the buildup, Wind isn’t exaclty going to be a progressive passing and carrying beast. He’s the striker and is usually the target at the end of those progressive passes.

You can see that with his progressive pass and run numbers being in the bottom half in the league.

Defending

Jonas Wind is an active defender who can create second opportunities for his side. SmarterScout takes Wind’s numbers in Denmark and can try to project how they might translate to the other leagues - in this example, we’re using Premier League standard.

Using their 0-99 FIFA-style ratings, they give Wind a 70 and 83 for defending quality and quantity.

So, we see an active defender, who contributes at an above average level for strikers.

A lot of Wind’s defensive work is recovering the ball in the final third, as you can see below, he averages nearly one recovery in the attacking third per 90 minutes.

In fact, he has made three recoveries in the attacking penalty box that have resulted in goals for his team.

These are decent numbers, and I like a striker that leads the defense.

Creation

When you hear about a striker that’s big in the air and is up there in the goal scoring, you don’t think about a creator.

However, Wind does have a little more to his game creation-wise than you’d assume.

Number-wise, just check this out.

A high assist-rate, and a high shot assist rate is awesome to see.

Wind likes to hold up the ball outside the 18-yard-box and play a lot of little through balls, here’s a good example of that.

But, it isn’t just the back-to-goal turn and pass Wind is good at. Here’s a good example of how he can take the ball in the half-space, use it, and then play in a teammate.

Finishing

While Wind is banging in the goals this season, his finishing numbers aren’t ideal.

Just check out this shot chart from open play this season - There’s a lot of empty calories here.

A lot of shots from outside the box, and a few from funny angles.

These shots don’t help Wind’s shot stats - This season, Jonas Wind has shot at 0.09 non-penalty goals per shot from 0.13 expected non-penalty goals per shot.

This comes up in his xG bucket distribution.

You can see a lot of his shots are low xG chances.

So, while his finishing is a bit below expectations - I think that some of the problem might be shot selection as opposed to finishing.

I’ll give him a 3/5 for finishing. However, if he fixes a few of those gross shots from outside, that number will increase.

Jonas Wind in the Hobby

Will Jonas Wind win a Ballon D’or?

No.

Will he be a world class striker at a top European/hobby relevant club?

Probably not.

Will he be an above average striker at a top five European league?

I think so!

I actually really like what I’ve seen from Wind. He’s strong, good in the air, can hold the ball up, but also doesn’t mind a dribble or playing a through ball to runners (or being the runner himself).

There’s a lot to like - and if the right club comes knocking, I’d back him to score some goals in the Premier League.

Hobby-wise, he doesn’t have a lot out there and what he does have is very cheap - so they don’t have to go up too much in price to get a nice return.

He’s had some injury concerns in the past - so let’s just hope he can stay healthy!

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