Rafael Quintas is a 17-year-old defensive midfielder from the academy of S.L. Benfica. This season, he has played most of his matches in the U-23 competition and with the club’s U-19 squad in the UEFA Youth League. At the time of writing, Quintas is featuring in the U-17 World Cup for Portugal, where he is the captain of the team.
At 1.73 m with a lean build, Quintas learned very early that winning duels is more about being smart than relying on raw strength. He demonstrates this with good positioning, excellent timing, and great use of his low center of gravity. I watched him play against physically strong opponents like Sandro Nascimento (Sporting CP) and Jorthy Mokio (Belgium U17/Ajax), dominating in his personal duels. His excellent timing, combined with his high acceleration, gives him the opportunity to stay a few meters away from his opponent and accelerate aggressively when the ball arrives, resulting in many recoveries. His flexible body movements also help him in the build-up phase, as he constantly makes himself a passing option with those abilities. Quintas’ jumping reach compensates slightly for his height. He will never be very dominant in the air, but his jumping reach and smart positioning often allow him to come away with the ball after a long pass from the opponent.
With the ball at his feet, Quintas truly shows his great qualities. He has a very impressive first touch (even under pressure), can pass accurately with both feet, dribbles with great control, and has very fast handling speed. He is not a trickster, but he has shown that he can dribble past opponents into open space with ease. Watching him play at Benfica raised some question marks for me about whether he avoided taking risks in his passing or preferred being very direct. However, by watching him in the UEFA Youth League and during the U-17 World Cup, Quintas has shown his vision with many direct and accurate risk-taking passes to teammates running into dangerous areas, resulting in quite a few goal contributions, especially for a player in his position. Due to his great technique, his teammates are not afraid to pass him the ball even when opponents apply heavy pressure. He is already showing himself to be a really mature and intelligent player.
Being the captain of the Portugal U-17 squad, Quintas has been entrusted not only with positioning himself smartly but also with coaching his teammates to do the same. Although his leadership and way of coaching his teammates are still areas for improvement, the honor of wearing the captain’s armband says a lot about his greatest weapon: game intelligence. The way he stays out of physical duels until he is in a favorable position to win them is very impressive. One thing he should improve is that he can be a bit naive. At times, he presses the opponent’s last line very aggressively, leaving a lot of space behind him. This aggressiveness can be seen in other aspects of his game as well. He commits many fouls and picks up yellow cards too often.
Out of possession, Quintas is constantly scanning his surroundings and quickly recognizes potentially dangerous situations, allowing him to anticipate in time on most occasions. In possession, he is becoming more and more of a playmaker, showing clear improvement during this season. He is very influential in the first phase of the build-up, and most of the time, he is focused on retaining the defensive structure further up the field.
Quintas has a very good base set of abilities to become an amazing player. Besides the technical aspect, he also has some great mental qualities. He keeps his head up after a mistake and shows a quick learning mindset, as he rarely makes the same mistake twice during a game. I believe Quintas is ready to demonstrate his qualities at senior level. It remains to be seen how he will hold up when he makes the step into a senior team, but I do believe he has all the abilities to become a world-class player in the future.
Target Scouting 