Player analysis: Yerson Mosquera

Before he makes his first Wolves appearance, a look at new signing Yerson Mosquera and what qualities he may offer the first team moving forwards.

Name: Yerson Mosquera Valdelamar

Position: Central defender

Date of birth: 2 May 2001 (age 20 years)

Senior appearances: 26

Previous club: Atlético Nacional

“He’s a centre-back who’s very athletic, very aggressive, very competitive and has a great attitude to defending – he wants to defend, he wants to make tackles and headers, and has great presence in both boxes, but he’s also very good technically and very composed on the ball. (Scott Sellars, 17th June 2021)

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Yerson Mosquera was Wolves’ first signing of this summer (and the Bruno Lage era). Only 20 years old, he has cost Wolves approximately £4m to sign from Atlético Nacional.

Wolves have been chasing a centre back for some time now, previously being linked with talents such as Odilon Kossounou and Edmond Tapsoba. While the hunt continues for a much needed senior signing in this position, Mosquera fits the profile of the above two; young, talented defenders with room for growth.

Despite being (harshly) sent off on his debut, he made a big impact in his first senior appearances. His performances at such a young age brought plenty of attention and Wolves had to be quick to sign him ahead of other European clubs. Under previous rules they wouldn’t have been able to bring him in but under the GBE rules he became easy to sign work permit wise.

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It’s likely that Wolves will have initially become aware to Mosquera’s ability and potential by his statistics. Smarterscout, an analytics website and tool for assessing and comparing players, highlight his defensive impact.

smarterscout @smarterscout

🚨 TRANSFER ALERT 🚨 Wolves have signed Yerson Mosquera from Atlético Nacional for about €5m. He's a smarterscout young prospect who was in his breakout season in Colombia, a huge difference-maker as a defender but still a bit raw on the ball. 1/5 #WWFC #Wolves #WolvesFC

His aerial ability is something that immediately stands out, which will definitely please Wolves fans. As well as having an impressive rating on smarterscout, his 65.38% success rate was one of the best in the Colombian league last year and compared to Wolves players, only Willy Boly and Jonny Castro (who only competed in the air 12 times last season) have better success rates.

Willy Boly had one of the best aerial duels success rates in the Premier League last season, so the prospect of him and Mosquera at the back together is an exciting one. Wolves had serious issues defending in the box last season, particularly from set pieces, so this should help the team a great deal.

As you can see from the below clips, he is aggressive in the air and doesn’t hesitate to compete for aerial balls.

Mosquera winning aerial duels

However, his eagerness can get the better of him at times. I can picture someone like Harry Kane leaning into unbalance him so he will have to be wary. A couple of times in the clips I saw of him, he mistimed his header or tried to compete for a ball he wasn’t going to meet:

Mosquera is beaten to a header

Part of his development will be recognising when to challenge for the ball and when to hold his position. You imagine that will come with age and he will learn a lot playing in the Premier League.

Another part of his defensive game that stood out statistically was his ‘recoveries’. he was completing over 13 of these per game, which was the highest in his division.

Mosquera can recover the ball quickly for the team

In the above clips he demonstrates an ability to recover the ball quickly for the team. His mobility and strength allow him to engage opponents in big spaces without the risk of getting overly exposed because he can recover quickly.

This was a big issue for Wolves when playing with a high line. Players like Conor Coady, Romain Saïss and Max Kilman struggled in these situations. We know that Bruno Lage employed a much higher line in general at Benfica than Nuno ever did at Wolves, so it’s a very key area to address. Particularly in transitions where Wolves must prevent counter attacks, Mosquera’s skillset seems a good fit.

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In possession, the smarterscout thread on twitter described Mosquera as ‘raw’. I think from the clips I was able to see, I would say he was more ‘loose’.

Mosquera gives the ball away cheaply

There are times when he can be more patient, play to feet and retain possession (which to be fair he does for the most part, his pass completion rate was pretty good at 88.5%). When under pressure, his tendency is to try to squeeze the ball forwards rather than find a way to keep it. Under Bruno Lage, he will likely have more options offering to feet, with the wide players coming inside and the full backs offering the width.

What might also count against Mosquera is that he is currently quite gangly, and so it doesn’t always look like he has full control of the ball when it is at his feet. Generally, I think he is fine but his touch can be quite heavy (which invites pressure).

Mosquera can look awkward when dribbling

Overall, he seems OK in possession but (as with his defending) we will get a clearer idea over a bigger sample of games. If it is an issue, it will be something Bruno Lage and his team will work hard to develop as a centre back’s ability with the ball at their feet will become important for Wolves.

Of the current defenders, Coady has an excellent range of passing whereas Saïss plays the most progressive passes. Neither of those two would be currently be expected to start in a back four, so it’s going to be interesting to see how Lage lines up his back four come August. Until a new centre back arrives as you’d hope, Mosquera has a great chance to put himself in contention to start earlier than anticipated.