Arthur De Lima is a 17-year-old forward who plays for the Central Coast Mariners. De Lima splits time between the Central Coast first team and their reserve side which plays in the semi-pro NPL. De Lima has managed 3 goals in 12 first-team appearances this season. He has not played for Australia at any level but I have to imagine that will change at some point.
De Lima is usually listed as a striker in a front two but in practice, he spends a lot of time in wide areas. De Lima is on the small side, listed at 5’10″ (1.82 m) with a slim build. Of course, De Lima is only 17 so he is likely to get physically stronger in the coming years. De Lima spends a lot of time in the half-spaces. He usually drops a little bit deeper to receive the ball and then carries it into space. De Lima is a strong ball carrier and a reasonable 1v1 dribbler. At least, he is a strong dribbler at the semi-professional level. At the A-League level, De Lima struggled to beat players 1v1. But the fact that he is able to do it at a lower level suggests that as he gains more experience at a higher level, the ball-carrying ability will eventually translate. De Lima is quite good at playing floated crosses into the box from the half-spaces, racking up a solid number of key passes. But where De Lima falls a little bit short is his shot locations. De Lima just does not get striker shots from open play. Instead, most of his attempts come from wide areas of the penalty area. De Lima is reasonably quick and is good at getting in behind defences but almost none of the resulting shots are from those central high danger areas. De Lima’s lack of size also means that he is not much of an aerial threat.
De Lima’s defensive impact is fairly limited. He presses a little bit and tracks back every now and then. But he does not stand out as a particularly active or skilled defender. His lack of size and strength is also an impediment but it does show that there could be room for growth on his defensive side of things. Certainly, his decent pace could help him become a more effective presser.
Despite some clear flaws, De Lima is scoring at a respectable rate as a 17-year-old on two Central Coast teams which are quite weak relative to their respective leagues. I, therefore, think it is likely we will see him establish himself as a top A-League player in the coming years before making a move to a higher level. In the long run, I think he could reach a level down from the top-5 leagues.
Target Scouting 