Scouted: Destiny Udogie
Alfie Biggs' deep dive on the Tottenham full-back.
Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham are winning over plenty of fans with their swashbuckling style of play, and one of their most impressive performers so far has been left-back Destiny Udogie.
Here, Alfie Biggs scouts out the 20-year-old.
THE EARLY YEARS
Born in the historic city of Verona, Udogie was picked up by local club Hellas Verona at an early age. He consistently played as a left-back or in central midfield up until the Under-16s, though he struggled in that age group.
However, after some strong international tournaments with Italy’s Under-16s, Udogie gained a new lease of life, and had three excellent seasons until he made his professional debut in the 2020-21 season.
After breaking through at Verona towards the back end of 2020-21 with six substitute appearances, Udogie earned a move to Udinese — a loan with an obligation to buy.
Even then, this was seen as a steal within Italian football.
He ended his first full season as a senior player with 29 Serie A starts, five goals and three assists. His performances earned Udogie a place on the 23-man Golden Boy shortlist.
Udinese’s three-at-the-back system, with offensive wing-backs, suited Udogie’s profile down to the ground, and he was excellent.
These performances sparked interest from numerous clubs but Spurs, then coached by Antonio Conte, signed the then-teenager in 2022 for a reported £15million.
However, due to the club already having both Ivan Perisic and Ryan Sessengon within their ranks, Udogie returned to Udinese on loan for another season.
The development Udogie had previously shown continued last term, as he excelled once again as a wing-back. His basic numbers in Serie A — three goals and four assists in 33 appearances — stayed relatively similar. However, Udogie’s progressive numbers took a huge jump, going from 56 progressive carries and 89 progressive passes to 109 and 106 respectively.
GAME ANALYSIS
I took a look at a game that I believe highlighted Udogie’s abilities and profile to a tee. That was Tottenham’s 5-2 win over Burnley at Turf Moor in September.
Within Spurs’ first phase, Udogie would move inside from a wide full-back role to create a pivot with Yves Bissouma. Burnley’s right winger would follow and in turn, create a passing lane between Micky van de Ven and Manor Solomon.
Udogie is within the top eight per cent of full-backs for progressive carriers in Europe. His athleticism, combined with an ability to beat his opponent 1v1 (1.62 successful take ones per 90, which ranks in the 92nd percentile) means he is as press-resistant as they come.
In the below image, you can see Udogie begin his carry from a central position just outside of Tottenham’s area.
He takes the ball a good 30 yards upfield, turning a potentially dangerous situation into an attacking one.
While he would often move inside to play on the same line as Bissouma, Udogie showed plenty of versatility and the ability to play vertically, moving up closer to Son Heung-min, who was leading Spurs’ line, allowing James Maddison to rotate into a deeper pocket on the left-hand side.
This also enabled Solomon to create separation from his marker and receive the ball in space. As shown below.
THE NUMBERS
As stated, Udogie’s ability to progress the ball down the left-hand side has always been apparent, especially during those two seasons at Udinese. His carrying ability is phenomenal and it’s definitive as his strongest trait.
Linking into that are his dribbles, and the locations of where he attempts them. Due to his movement from out to in within the first and second phases, Udogie has far more dribbles in the offensive half and he has taken on central midfielders more often than he has opposing full-backs or wingers.
The disparity between his ability to take part in the build-up and within the final third is huge. As you can see in the graphs below, he’s quite wasteful and often seems rushed.
Additionally, his 'final third creative' numbers are significantly lower than what you might expect from an offensive full-back.
But, what about his defending? He is a full-back, after all.
Well, when comparing Udogie to those players in the same role, he stacks up incredibly well, especially when considering his defensive numbers in this case have taken from his time at Udinese as well.
His athleticism and intensity are exemplified by his ability to recover the ball across all thirds of the pitch, too.
Especially since the start of his partnership with Van de Ven, whose pace allows Udogie to push high.
A FANS’ VIEW
@Kish_P14 — A Spurs fan, founder of @LilywhiteLab and co-founder of @rondo_reports.
How would you judge Udogie’s start to the season so far?
Absolutely unbelievable, the way such a young kid has slotted into a new league, a new club and a new role is ridiculous, and goes to show his mentality and talent.
Were you expecting such an impact?
I was expecting an impact but not [one] this large. I thought it would take more time. He’s been very highly spoken of throughout his time in Italy but I thought this was one that we’d see the fruits of further down the line. Thankfully, he’s taken it in his stride.
How would you say he’s adapted to Postecoglu’s system?
This is partly what is so impressive. He was a wing-back at Udinese, flying up and down the touch line. Under Ange he’s being asked to do something completely different. A true inverted full back, receiving the ball inside the pitch, often on the half turn with intense pressure around him. But nothing phases him, he’s able to progress the ball up the pitch fantastically from a central area.
Has he had to make any changes to his game from what we had previously seen in Italy?
He was a wing back so we saw more of him being a final-third creator and a penalty-box threat. At Spurs, he’s been something different. He’s helped us in the build-up a lot more but also in transition — his driving runs through the centre can be a real threat. I saw somewhere that he played in midfield at youth level, which must have helped him in this transition into the role.
Finally, if you could suggest his standout best and worse qualities, what would they be?
His physicality and mentality stand out for me, while he’s also technically sound. His ability to make driving runs through the heart of midfield are amazing to watch. His decision-making for such a young player is spot on, and in defensive transitions he often mops up in central areas with his physicality and smart positioning.
His timing of interceptions has also stood out, which has led to a couple of goals for us; he often steps in ahead of an opponent and wins it high up. If I was to have one slight criticism I’d say at times he could pop the ball slightly quicker. He enjoys inviting pressure to then escape it and at times dwells a bit too much when there could be a spare pass on.
By Alfie Biggs
Alfie has produced written content for A View From The Bullens and Everton Newsfeed, while he has also featured on several podcasts and videocasts, including on More Than A Game’s YouTube channel. He has a background in club analysis and scouting.
(Follow: alfiebiggs03 / Substack: Abc_Analysis)