Max Caputo is a 19-year-old striker who plays for Melbourne City in the A-League. Caputo broke through as a senior player in the 23/24 season but suffered a syndesmosis ligament tear which kept him out for 6 months. But, after recovering from his injury, Caputo quickly established himself as Melbourne City’s first-choice striker, helping them to a championship. Caputo has played three times for Australia U-20, scoring once.
Caputo is not the tallest striker, listed at 5’10” (1.78 m)*, but he makes up for this by being very strong. Caputo is broad and muscular. Caputo is mainly a poacher who scores goals thanks to his ability to get free in high-danger situations. He is particularly adept at getting on the end of through balls. Caputo is very good at sitting on the shoulder of the last defender and then creating space for himself with short runs in behind. Caputo’s strength also makes him a threat in the air, despite being a little shorter than average by striker standards. Caputo’s shot selection is very good, with the majority of his shots coming from dangerous areas in the box. However, I think he could take this to another level with sharper movement within 10 yards of the goal to get on the end of more cutbacks. Caputo gets quite a lot of headed shots from this range but relatively few with his feet. Caputo does offer some value in possession as well, though he does not touch the ball very much in build-up. Caputo is a very powerful runner with the ball and quick when he gets up to speed, so he can be a danger in transition. Caputo is quite good at playing passes to his wingers, whether that is in transition or in build up play. Caputo does not do very much direct creation, but he is good at playing the ball into the space between full-backs and centre-backs to put teammates in a position to make the killer pass. Caputo generally has strong hold-up play, thanks to his strength, but tends to give the ball away when trying to pass backward or perform lay-offs.
Caputo is not very active defensively. Melbourne City does press quite high, but Caputo is not usually the one to initiate the press (at least he was not in the games I watched). Generally, he holds space in the centre and looks to cut out passes into central areas. So, there is a tactical reason that he does not rack up very many defensive actions. His physical traits, in theory, should make him effective in a more active defensive role.
I think Caputo’s potential is quite high. He was very productive as a 19-year-old coming off a long-term injury this season. He probably doesn’t have the technical depth to make it to the top-5 leagues, but I think he could do well for a Europa League-level team from outside the top-5 leagues.
*I have been shown some convincing photographic evidence that Caputo is taller than his listed height. Everything else in this report still stands.
Target Scouting 