Patrik Mercado is a 19-year-old midfielder who currently plays for Independiente del Valle. He made his official debut for Independiente del Valle in 2022 after gradually moving up the ranks in their famous youth academy. Mercado currently is a squad player for the first team, but also featured for the under 20’s in both the 2022 and 2023 edition of the U20 Copa Libertadores. The Ecuadorian was also present at the U20 Sudamericano but wasn’t selected for the U20 World Cup.
Mercado is a versatile midfielder, having played at defensive midfield, central midfield and attacking midfield. Patrik Mercado has a very nice technique. He is always in control of the ball in small spaces. Mercado is adept at delaying his pass to open up more options (‘pausa’) and has solid passing over short and medium distances. His long passing is very clean, and he is a real playmaker from deeper areas. Patrik Mercado generally recognizes space well and exploits that space well, especially in first-phase possession. As a result, he is always open to receive the ball in first-phase possession and helps Independiente del Valle to progress the ball into midfield with his good positioning, solid passing and decent vision.
Standing at 1.75 meters with a slim build, Patrik Mercado does not have a strong frame for a midfielder. He has decent strength in shoulder-to-shoulder duels but generally gets outmuscled by stronger opponents. Though, Mercado often does well to draw fouls in those situations. He has good acceleration on the ball but tends to take heavy touches while dribbling. Mercado is quick over long distances too. He has decent agility but for his frame I would have liked him to be more agile and flexible to really stand out in this aspect and compensate for his lack of physical ability. Mercado is aggressive in 50/50 duels and wins a lot of them, but generally his defending is below average. He gets dragged out of position too often, fails to cut passing lanes and his timing of stepping up is average.
Patrik Mercado is a nice technical player, but lacks physical strength and intelligence in defense to stand out as a defensive midfielder. He should probably play as one of the two central midfielders in an advanced role, but his lack of chance creation skills from that position is concerning. All in all, I think Mercado could become an important player for Independiente del Valle and eventually make a move to the MLS, but I don’t think he is as talented as some of his teammates.