Mihail Polendakov is an 18-year-old right-back who plays for Septemvri Sofia in the Bulgarian topflight, where he made his debut aged just 15. He represents Bulgaria at youth level and was the captain of their U17 team.
Polendakov is listed as being 179cm (5’10.5) but has quite a slender build. In the air, Polendakov really struggles. In contested headers he is pushed off balance way too easily and he generally does not judge aerial balls well, meaning that even in uncontested aerial situations he can sometimes miss the ball entirely or make a very poor connection. Polendakov is pretty quick both on and off the ball, which allows him to make good supporting runs, recoveries, and offer a threat when carrying the ball at pace.
Defensively, Polendakov still needs a lot of work, despite the fact he has played CB when he was younger. Polendakov is far too ball orientated and often loses track of his man as he is too interested in what is happening with the ball. He is very slow to react to his surroundings, and this means wingers can run off him easily, especially when moving from out to in. In 1v1 situations he is beaten against any winger who can feint or use step-overs effectively as he will often step in at the wrong time or overcommit when biting on a feint. One area where he does do well though, is in 50/50s, where he is fast onto the scene and seems to be able to time his tackles well.
Going forwards, Polendakov has pretty quick feet, and is quite agile meaning he is somewhat of a threat when 1v1. He also has a good sense of when to release the ball. Polendakov is capable of playing some nice passes down the line for his winger, but his execution is inconsistent, and this means it is not a reliable route of progression for his side. In the final third, he makes decent overlapping runs so is fairly reliably an option for his winger to pass to, but his crossing is poor. When it comes to cutbacks, Polendakov is okay, but tends to wrap around the ball too much, dragging it further than his intended target, and when it comes to deep crosses, they lack the pace and whip to pose a threat to the opposition defence. Another area where he has some struggles is in deep possession. Despite being able to use both feet to a decent standard, Polendakov is prone to making a mistake under pressure, especially when physical pressure is applied.
Mihail Polendakov has been linked to moves to better leagues and has even had trials within the Red Bull system. This is understandable as he has a fair bit of first-team exposure for someone who only just turned 18, but I believe he needs a lot of work in his development. I would currently rate him as a below average player at the level he is playing at, so clubs interested should be prepared to be patient with him, and would need to structure his development plan carefully to make the most of his profile.
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