Keen Mandizvidza is a 17-year-old winger who plays for Manurewa in the New Zealand national league. Mandizviza was the club’s top scorer in an ill-fated season that ended in relegation.
I would estimate Mandizvidza is around 5’7″ (172 cm) with a slim build. The main thing that makes him attractive is his dribbling. Mandizvidza is very quick on the ball and very slippery. The one thing that limits his dribbling is that he is not very physically strong and is quite easily bodied off the ball. Due to Manurewa’s relative weakness, Mandizvidza often received the ball in his own half or the middle third, but he was very good at improving his team’s field position through direct runs and his dribbling ability. Mandizvidza is a decent transition passer, able to play through balls behind the opposing defence and generally find teammates in space. However, in the final third, Mandizvidza has some shortcomings. There is no advanced data for the regional phase of New Zealand’s top flight, but I am willing to bet that Mandizvidza’s shot map would look like there was a forcefield around the opposition penalty area. Almost all of his shots are from outside the box or the far corners of the penalty area. This is partly less than ideal shot selection, partly playing on a bad team, and partly very weak off-ball movement in the final third. I felt like screaming at my screen as time and again Mandizvidza missed an opportunity to make a back-post run and maybe get himself a tap-in. In most leagues in the world, a 17-year-old on a bad team having middling end product would not be that big of a deal. But in New Zealand, where any halfway decent player scores for fun, this gives me genuine concerns that Mandizvidza might not have the juice for a higher level. He is quite good at beating fullbacks with his dribbling and then getting a decent number of crosses and cutbacks into the box. If he had strong teammates, he would probably get more assists.
Mandizvidza has a high defensive work rate. That is good because there was a lot of defending to do for Manurewa last season! Mandizvidza sits quite deep in the block and does a lot of work to track back and close players down. His lack of physical strength is a bit of a limiting factor in winning physical battles, but that is likely to improve as he gets older.
Mandizvidza’s end product is a genuine concern, but considering his age, the strength of his team, and his excellent ball-carrying ability, he is still a somewhat interesting prospect. I would be very interested to see if he can improve his outputs next season if he joins a more serious team. If he is able to improve his end product and continue to develop physically, I could see him making the jump to the A-League.
Target Scouting 