Daouda Weidmann is a 23-year-old midfielder playing for FC Twente in the Eredivisie. Coming through the PSG youth academy, Weidmann moved to Torino FC and after that transferred to the Netherlands to join RKC Waalwijk, where he didn’t play many games but already impressed. Weidmann started the season very well at FC Twente, scoring 2 goals and 3 assists in 8 games across the Eredivisie and Conference League qualifiers.

Weidmann stands at 1.80 metres and is a lightweight player. He’s not among the strongest players on the field, but his aggressive playing style compensates for that decently. For a central midfielder, Weidmann is very fast-paced. With his good agility and acceleration, he can easily get out of tight spaces and outsmart opponents. He can easily go the full 90 minutes, and I think his stamina and endurance are very decent. Weidmann isn’t a particularly strong player physically, but he’s a smart one, so he knows when to use his body in duels. In ground duels, I think Weidmann still needs to grow, as he loses possession too often in games. But with his aggressive playing style, he often wins the ball back quickly when he loses it.

In possession, Weidmann is a very smart, attack-minded midfielder. Playing as a left central midfielder in a 4-2-3-1, he knows when to make deep runs and when to drop and receive the ball low to carry it into midfield well. He has very decent ball control and a solid overall technical base, with quick feet and good dribbling. The thing I like most about Weidmann is his offensive-minded playing style — always looking for a 1-2 combination or playing a smart pass after a ball carry or acceleration. He’s two-footed and can shoot with either foot. Weidmann shoots almost always from outside the box. He knows how to position himself and is genuinely dangerous in games with his shooting abilities. But his crosses and corners are also very dangerous, and that’s really where he stands out. Another big plus is his passing — often with a good sense of tempo and awareness of his teammates, whether through the air or with low driven passes.

Out of possession, Weidmann is a hard-working central midfielder who does his defensive work decently, but he clearly shows a stronger preference for shooting, dribbling, and driving forward. At Twente, he played alongside Zerrouki, who also isn’t a pure defensive midfielder, so there are sometimes issues defensively. Weidmann tends to position himself high up the pitch, as he’s involved in almost every attack — and I feel that in counter-attacks he’s often too late to be defensively valuable. His switching and awareness in this area could still use some improvement. That said, he does often win the ball back quickly, either when he loses it himself or when it happens to a teammate. Weidmann is also not afraid to make a foul, but over the last few seasons I feel he’s improving a lot in his defensive duties and his awareness of where to help his teammates.

Overall, I think Weidmann is a very offensive-minded central midfielder with quick acceleration on the ball, good dribbling, and a precise, well-placed shot. Defensively, I feel there’s a lot of room for improvement if he wants to continue playing as a 6/8. If Weidmann improves his defensive awareness and duel strength, I think he can grow into that 6/8 role. But I’d really like to see Weidmann as a 10 in the future, because I think he can become even more the player he looks capable of being — someone who scores more often and is decisive for his team. I think Weidmann is a very interesting player with room to grow further out of possession, and if he keeps up the hard work, I could see him playing at a club like Girona or Toulouse.