NAC Breda underwent a major revolution in their squad during the summer market window. Former manager Peter Hyballa has always had an eye on the Swedish league and, together with his staff, decided to pick right winger Patriot Sejdiu from Malmö FF. Despite the hesitant start of Breda’s team, Sejdiu proved to be one of the most interesting elements of the squad.
Player Profile:
- Nationality: Kosovo/Sweden
- Age: 23
- Date of birth: 05/05/2000
- Current club: NAC Breda
- Career: Dalkurd/Malmö FF/NAC Breda
- Position: Right Winger
- Preferred foot: Left
Sejdiu is not an extremely muscular footballer: 182 centimeters tall, he has a rather slim build and does not stand out in terms of physicality. Nevertheless, he is a footballer who is rather strong and decisive in contrast, difficult to contain in tight situations because he can outmaneuver his opponent in purely physical terms. Sejdiu is a particularly quick athlete, both short and long, who has rather high acceleration and can put his marker in serious difficulty. Moreover, Sejdiu is incredibly agile and particularly inclined to orient his body in the direction that is most advantageous for him at the time.
From a purely technical point of view, Sejdiu is a perfectible footballer, but one who is amply suited to play in the Netherlands’ second-tier league and who already appears ready to play in a higher league. Sejdiu’s first touch is average for the league in which he finds himself: it happens that he tends to make a stop that is not properly oriented or inaccurate. This often happens with high balls, whereas when the pass is imprecise but low to the ground, he tends to be much more effective.
Sejdiu with the ball on his feet is very confident: he is a footballer who privileges entering the field, but can also dribble on the outside, going on his right foot. With his weaker foot, he can cross and, eventually, force the ball into the goal. He is not at the level of his left foot, but he does not lose game time to get back on his preferred foot.
One aspect that needs to be analyzed about Sejdiu is his work rate at a very high level. Sejdju is a particularly offensive player: a forward rather than a lateral midfielder, but his lung capacity and dedication also make him useful in line-ups such as the 4-4-2 that was used extensively at NAC Breda earlier this season. From a purely defensive point of view, the Kosovar-born player not only offers intelligent positional defence but is also very skillful in doubling and concrete in counter-attacks. Also worthy of note is his ability to exert high pressing, enhanced by Hyballa’s influence from the famous German Gegenpressing school of thought.
Sejdiu is a winger who possesses a keen sense of goal and is very adept at finishing inside the penalty area. Even though he is asked to do several important tasks during the match, he is often lucid in front of the goalkeeper and is adept at deciding which type of shot is the most correct at that moment. Sediu acts very well with a centre forward: the classic play is a quick exchange with the central striker on the edge of the penalty area that brings him in front of the goalkeeper. He is a decent crosser but prefers to be very progressive and bring the ball into the penalty area with short exchanges and his quick dribbling.
In conclusion, Sejdiu is a player who has ample room for improvement and can aspire to a mid to lower-level team in more important leagues. He is certainly a raw footballer, sometimes stubborn in his choices and technically not at an elite level. However, the impact he had on NAC Breda was important in his first five official matches (3 G, 1 A). Sejdiu goes on to emphasise how the size of Swedish football is a huge pool of talent that may be imperfect, but which is easy to work on and can become level assets for teams in the top leagues.