Scouting Report: Josh Sargent

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• This scouting report comes via request. I had a message via Instagram asking me to (apologies for not giving you credit whomever you are… I can’t find the Insta message to give you full credit).

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Josh Sargent is a bit of a tricky one. The American striker has been playing some serious minutes in Germany - but is he a good card prospect?

In this article, we’ll find out.

Player Profile

Name: Josh Sargent
Age: 20
Position: Striker
Club: Werder Bremen
Rookie Card Season: 2018/19 Season

About Josh Sargent

We can start with this: Josh Sargent is a striker that doesn’t score a lot of goals…

Last season he scored four goals of five expected goals, and this season he’s on one goal off of three expected goals.

Granted, Bremen were in a relegation scrap-heap all season. So, you don’t expect their striker to be banging in goals.

You can also see that when you look at how Sargent uses the ball around the ground. Just look at this visual representation:

Sargent drops really deep to get the ball and either lay off a long pass (the yellow squares are passes that go over 10m towards the goal), or looks to contribute to the buildup (blue squares are all other passes).

He’s getting some touches in the defending third - granted, a lot of this would have to do with how Bremen Play, but still, you don’t necessarily want your striker to be more active at the halfway line than in the opposition penalty box.

He can drop back and play some nice balls though, here’s a nice example of a great piece of work against Bayern not too long ago (ignore that random circle, the work experience kid at Wyscout obviously shit the bed that day).

A nice little first touch to get himself into space, he then sees the run and hits the through ball perfectly.

Changing His Game?

Josh Sargent’s game has actually changed a little from this season to last - or at least the way he’s being used. SmarterScout look at the frequencies of players’ actions around the ground and give them a number from 0-99 that’s standardized for their position and their league - we can use these numbers to find a player’s ‘play style’.

Now, this changes a lot with the way a team plays, as a player is a cog in a machine. But you can see trends over time - and you can pick up on how a player’s role might have changed.

Take a look at Sargent’s style last season.

As you can see, he was made to recover a lot of loose balls, link-up pass, and disrupt opposition moves.

Basically, he was doing an awful lot of defending.

And, to be fair, he’s quite good at it. Some of the interceptions and loose-ball chase downs that Sargent does are pretty awesome.

He’s created goals and opportunities just by putting pressure on defenders. So having him play that role for a struggling side

This season it’s a little different though.

Keep in mind that this season is only young, so there could be some small sample theatre going on here, but check out the same graph with this season’s numbers.

As you can see, he’s doing less defending, and he is also attempting to get into the box more - along with more shooting.

He’s still just slightly above average frequency-wise at both though.

This matches the eye test too. I definitely noticed Sargent going in for more interceptions looking at tape from last season compared to the current one.

His play-style is still very workmanlike though. And you see that when you watch him play.

Another cool thing we can do is use SmarterScouts numbers to see a player’s effectiveness and impact on the game.

Again, it uses real stats and data to give a 0-99 rating for players on their attacking output, defending quality, defending quantity, and ball retention.

Without getting too far into the weeds on what goes into each number, here’s how Sargent compares in the Bundesliga.

Again, I’ve decided to use the data from both this - and last season because of the style changes and small sample size from this season.

Looking at that, from what I can see, the changes in Sargent’s style has potentially lead to a few things.

• He’s being asked to do less defensive actions, which means that he’s more successful on a per-minute basis. A lot of the quality can also be measured by his positioning (rather than going in for interceptions)

• He’s playing more longer passes towards goal, which are often a little more risky than a general build-up pass, so the team loses the ball more after Sargent touches it, leading to a lower ball retention rating

• Sargent’s attacking output is still incredibly low compared to other strikers in the Bundesliga. It’s actually lowered even though he’s getting the ball in the box more.

All in all, pretty underwhelming if you’re expecting Josh Sargent to be the next superstar when it comes to American players overseas.

He’s clearly a class below the very best Americans in Europe.

Still, a workmanlike striker who has a good engine and can contribute to link-up play will always have a spot at a mid-lower team in a good league.

A lot of struggling clubs would much rather have a player who puts in the effort like Josh Sargent compared to a lazy player that pulls out the occasional stepover and worldie from outside the box - and I agree with them!

What’s Next for Josh Sargent

For Josh Sargent, the goal has to be to stay in a European top flight club and continue to keep top of mind for USMNT selectors.

Sargent’s style and impact on the match means that he’s unlikely to ever sign for a big club and play a lot of minutes (I can maybe see him as a change-of-pace guy off the bench though). This means that he’s likely to hover around mid-lower teams within Europe’s top five leagues.

For now though, sticking at Bremen and getting good game time is enough while he’s developing.

Josh Sargent For Collectors

Often, some people will say that a player is “only getting hype because they’re American” or something like that.

Usually, they’re not exactly right or wrong…. There’s some grey area.

Yes, a player will usually get a little more media hype if they’re from the country with the biggest media base - that’s pretty obvious. It shouldn’t be surprising that an American media company wants to cover American players.

But that doesn’t mean that they’re a bad player.

Sargent fits into this category for me. If he was from any country other than the USA, then I doubt he’d be relevant in the hobby.

However, to quote one of my favorite YouTube videos ever…

At the end of the day, Josh Sargent is American, and is a big part of the USMNT. If he continues to be a regular of the US side and playing in Europe, then he should still be relevant within the hobby.

He’s an absolute workhorse of a forward, and while that may not be the most eye-catching, in a US squad that could have a lot of top attacking talent from the midfield positions, having a workman-like striker that drops down to link up play and defend should means he retains his spot.

And yes, his card may sell more than the card of players who are better - but that’s the game. At the end of the day, it’s the market that dictates what a card is worth, and that isn’t always linked to performances. This isn’t new.

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