Eiran Cashin is a left footed central defender that’s come through the academy at Derby County, despite being only 22 years old he has over 100 senior appearances at Championship and League One level, a handful of caps at U21 level for the Republic of Ireland and won Derby County’s Young Player of the year last season.
At first glance, Cashin isn’t the most imposing of central defenders, he’s 1.84m tall putting him slightly on the smaller side at this level, and nor he the quickest either and he can look slow when trying to recover back into the defensive line. Despite this average frame he’s very strong during aerial duels due to his strong jump reach but importantly how he times his duels, he reads the flight of the ball perfectly, gives himself a yard or so to build momentum and towers over attackers to win the ball.
Similarly, when attacking set pieces Cashin looks to build momentum by dropping slightly further from the pack to give himself that run, before again attacking the ball with aggression and is a threat when attacking or defending crosses in both boxes, compared to when he’s in a more physical duel and is unable to build that momentum where his dominance is evened out.
Eiran shows strong mental attributes especially so for his age, he’s aggressive in the challenge and is constant in winning duels in the air and on the ground and again shows strong timing with how and when he engages. He’s exceptionally calm under pressure, there’s a real composure to how he plays and that reassurance spreads across the rest of the Derby defence. He makes strong decisions, will make a short-headed pass instead of a clearance, will play a short pass forward off a single touch instead of just trying to get the ball back down the pitch but also knows when to take action and defend first.
Despite not being the quickest, Cashin reacts quickly to danger to get himself into positions early. He anticipates passes and is already moving before the attacker does, giving him an advantage whilst smartly accommodating a weakness. He’s very aware of what’s around him, he checks his shoulder regularly and adjusts to screen passes, track runners and again shows experience with knowing when to pass his runner over to keep a tight defence. He’ll want to work on how he marks, a quick change of direction or shove from a striker can leave him slightly behind.
Another main strength to his game in his ability with the ball, Cashin regularly plays driven diagonal passes into wide areas and does so with ease at times, whilst impressively being able to switch play both to the left and right wing through looking comfortable across many angles. He can play shorter passes off both feet as well as turning under pressure to open up the pitch and play forward, again showing how positive a defender he really is.
It’s surely only a matter of time before Eiran makes his first senior appearance for the Republic of Ireland, his composure, strong ability with the ball, defensive instinct, controlled aggression and timing are some of the many attributes that have plenty of clubs in the Championship and Premier League apparently vying for his signature and rightly so.
Target Scouting 