Mario Sauer is a 19-year-old central midfielder from Slovakia that plays for MSK Zilina. The youth product of the 7-time Slovakian champions is right footed and is 180 centimeters tall. Mario is right footed but uses his left foot for small passes or during dribbles. He’s a central midfielder who’s more offensively minded. But that doesn’t mean that he never plays defensively, as he almost always comes back to defend but not very deep. Beside playing for the first team of Zilina, Mario also helps the U19 of Zilina in the UEFA Youth League, which recently knocked out the U19 of Borussia Dortmund.
Physically wise, Mario is very skinny like a true mesomorph. Almost doesn’t have any muscles, but that doesn’t mean that he is losing all of his man-to-man duels. He has decent balance, so in close duels he isn’t always getting pushed around by a stronger opponent. He likes to use his arms and shoulder in the duels. But he isn’t great in them. Mario accelerates very well and has a pretty good pace. He almost never goes into aerial duels, but when he does he mostly loses them. His reach when he jumps isn’t very good either. Mario has good stamina though, looks like he can run throughout the whole game.
Mario influences the attack pretty well. He progresses the ball forward with good short passes and decent long passes. His long passes aren’t really consistent. One game his long passes could even miss the target but still be good, and the next one they could be completely off target. I could say the same thing about his crosses. Mario almost never moves away from the middle of the pitch, he’s almost never on the wings besides for throw-ins. But he can make quick short passes that are accurate. He struggles often in tight spaces. For example, he’s getting pressed by two opponents and Mario could make a bad pass, lose the ball while dribbling or lose the ball in a duel. His dribbling is a good aspect to improve, definitely in those type situations or 1v1’s. Mario is active in the attacks though, moving a lot without the ball and searching some open spaces to get the ball or create space for other teammates. During attacks he can go pretty deep in the field on some occasions. Mario is not a very good shooter. He mostly shoots from outside the penalty area, but his shots are often blocked or are off target. He doesn’t shoot very often either. Mario is also running forward with the counterattack often. Overall, his attacking/playmaking abilities are decent. Definitely for his age, where he still can improve by a lot.
Defensively, Mario isn’t amazingly active. But he still does some good work. He presses his opponent often and when he runs towards his own goal Mario keeps the pressure on him. That’s a good trait, but with that he often runs out of his positions and creates a lot of space. But beside that, his positioning is alright. Can drop back deeply, but he prefers to say a bit. Doesn’t mark his opponent often, prefers to cover the zone or press the opponent with the ball. He intercepts the ball well, gets his foot on the perfect moment to intercept the ball in 1v1’s. He often tries to cut a pass as well. Almost never goes into aerial duels.
I think that a move abroad wouldn’t be the best choice right now. Maybe next winter or summer, where he would be 20 it would be a better time to move. A team in the Austrian Bundesliga, Swiss Super League or Belgian Pro League would be a good fit for him. But eventually, i see Mario end up in a top 5 league, if everything goes well of course.
Target Scouting 