Jiwen Kuai is a 19-year-old attacking midfielder who plays for Shanghai Port in the Chinese Super League. Kuai has only recently broken through for Port’s first team, but in his limited number of senior minutes, he has been extremely productive, with 6 assists in about 500 minutes. Kuai’s exploits have already earned him two senior caps for China.
Kuai is a physically small player, listed at 5’7″ (1.74 m) with a slim build. He generally plays as either a #10 or an attacking #8. Kuai’s biggest strength, by far, is his off-ball movement. He is extremely good at getting open between the opposition midfield and defensive lines. From there, he will generally look to either drive into space or play a quick ball in behind. Now, Kuai’s execution of these things leaves something to be desired. He often misplaces the final pass, and he struggles to beat players 1v1. Granted, attempted throughballs in behind the last line of defence are naturally going to have a low success rate, but even considering that, Kuai puts the ball right into the shinguards of the last defender, overhits his pass, or plays a pass that is behind a runner distressingly often. His inability to dribble when there is an actual defender in the way also severely limits his impact in the final third. Kuai does not stand out as particularly quick, and he is very easily knocked off the ball, which limits his ability to beat players 1v1. Here is the thing, though, Kuai gets the ball in dangerous areas so frequently that he is still an incredibly productive player (at least he is at the CSL level). If you keep getting the ball in space with only the backline to beat, eventually some good stuff is going to happen! That said, Kuai’s inefficiency held him back a lot more in a match against J-League side Sanfrecce Hiroshima. In that game, against a higher level of opponent, Kuai really struggled with the pace and physicality of the game. He was still able to receive the ball in pockets of space effectively, but was closed down much more quickly by defenders and never really got anything going. Against CSL opponents, Kuai’s off-ball movement made him a danger in the box as well. He is particularly adept at getting on the end of cutbacks right around the penalty spot, thanks to his runs into the box.
Kuai’s defensive contributions are extremely limited. This isn’t necessarily due to lack of trying; Kuai dutifully runs around and tries to win the ball back when it gets near him. But his poor physicals and some slow processing speed on defence mean that he is a bit of a pylon out there. I would expect some improvement as he gains experience and physical strength, but right now it is a major weakness.
Jiwen Kuai has a lot of problems, but he is generating a lot of shots in a somewhat serious league at 19. That is not something that can be dismissed out of hand. I think there is reason for cautious optimism. Kuai should naturally get stronger and faster just by getting older. His decision-making and execution should improve as he gains more experience against stronger opponents (this is a player with less than 1000 professional minutes under his belt; it is worth remembering). Projecting a move abroad for Kuai is difficult, as most Chinese players stay in China; the most recent Chinese national squad did not feature a single player who plays abroad. But, looking at similarly ranked Asian leagues, Belgium and Scotland are common destinations in Europe. There is also the possibility of moving to a stronger Asian league like the J-League or Saudi Pro League. Though I should stress, I think it will probably be at least another year before Kuai is ready to take a step up.
Target Scouting 