Soumaila Fané is a 15-year-old winger who plays for Académie Football Barô Diallo and the Mali U-17 national team.
Fané stands about 5’10″ (1.7 m) with a reasonably solid build for a 15-year-old. Fané operated as a wide playmaker in this tournament, mostly cutting inside off the left and looking to play passes into the box. Fané has good vision and was able to break the last line of the opposition’s defence with some regularity. He also has decent delivery from wide areas. Fané can be a goal threat himself thanks to strong off-the-ball movement. He often pops up at the back post for a high-danger chance. However, one area of attacking play where Fané struggles is dribbling. He is not able to make the quick changes of direction needed to beat players 1v1. This leads to a lot of situations where he gets stuck in a wide area and can’t do anything. This naturally limits his ability to play the passes that make him an exciting player. This could be something that improves as he gets older. Fané was born in December 2009, so he is quite a bit younger than a lot of the players he was playing against. He may develop more explosiveness as he gets older.
Fané is a very strong defensive player. He frequently wins the ball back in the final third through pressing and good defensive positioning. This ability to win the ball back, combined with his strong passing, makes him a huge threat in transition. Fané also has quite good pivot strength which allows him to win ground duels and come away with the ball. He is also quite good at using his body to shield the ball and win fouls.
Fané was an effective shot producer in this tournament, despite being one of the younger players. He also showed some very strong defensive play. The only thing that gives me pause is his limited dribbling ability but this could improve if he develops more explosiveness as he gets older. All in all, I think Fané is a player who could reach the top-5 leagues, though probably for a relatively small team.
Target Scouting 