Premiership Transfer Watch
With the summer window opening today, a closer look at early moves involving Hearts, Dundee United, Kilmarnock and Aberdeen.
This article was written for Scottishfootball.info by Josh Duncan, an aspiring sports writer, who has his own Substack account.
Please follow him there and on X.com.
Josh’s latest article will be the first in his series of deep-dives into Premiership transfers this summer. This won’t be a focus on Rangers, as Josh does this on his own page, and instead will cover signings and rumours across all Premiership clubs.
This edition features Hearts, Dundee United, Kilmarnock and Aberdeen.
With World Cup fever gripping the country, it might be easy to forget that the transfer window opens today. Some teams will be starting fresh and building for the future, while others will be reinforcing an already established core.
Teams have already begun making their moves throughout the Scottish Premiership, deals done ready to be sealed when the window opens. Some clubs have already announced their first incomings of the summer, getting business done early to avoid the World Cup whirlwind.
Scottish clubs, especially outside the Old Firm, are often underrepresented when it comes to detailed analysis of new signings. So for ScottishFootball.info this summer, I am going to try and give insights on some of the most interesting signings and rumours throughout the Scottish Premiership.
I will pick a few each week to watch and share my views on their playstyles and quality. My biggest focus will be to give coverage to all of the teams in the league, except for Rangers as I cover all the Rangers signings on my own substack.
So with the main ideas of this series outlined, let’s get underway. I have four early signings/rumours that I’d like to cover this time.
Amadou Ba-Sy
In typical Jamestown fashion, Hearts have headed to the French 3rd division (Championnat National) and signed FC Rouen forward Amadou Ba-Sy. The 25 year old stands at 6’4 and registered 6 goals and 4 assists in the league last season.
Ba-Sy is a huge physical presence, his size and strength stand out massively in his league. He faces almost no defenders that can match him up man for man. You add to this that his long strides give him great pace, then you have a difficult day for any defence.
He understands how to use his body to gain advantages and get himself chances. His strength allows him to hold off most defenders using just one arm, allowing him to roll away into the channel. This gives his opponent the choice of fouling or letting him run straight towards goal.
Ba-Sy gets these chances often but is inconsistent in taking them, his touches often put him in awkward shooting positions. This means that he either needs another touch or has to shoot off balance, both choices usually mean squandering the chance.
His best technical attributes actually show up when he drifts out wide. Despite his unorthodox movements, something you see a lot with very tall players, he actually dribbles past opponents often. His dribbling is deceptive and defenders find him hard to read.
This is really sound technique, gets the ball onto his right to size up the defender. The sort of micro touch into the step-over allows him to push off of his right leg to immediately go left. He gets a bit of a lucky bounce but the decision to go straight back against the second defender’s momentum is also a good one.
Ba-Sy’s link and hold up play is quite a mixed bag overall. If you can play the ball into his feet, his technique is sound. He will control it quickly and move the ball on at the first opportunity.
When he has to deal with the ball in the air though, he struggles. Aerial duels often see Ba-Sy mistime his jumps, missing the ball entirely due to a poor read.
His technique when controlling in tight spaces is poor as well, he will take multiple touches to bring the ball under control. If he tries to turn then the touch is often heavy, losing possession for his team:
What it looks like Hearts are getting is the typical modern striker that data loves. A player that gets lots of chances but doesn’t score many. His physical quality will translate to Scotland pretty easily, which is how he gets his chances for the most part. Hearts will bank on him being able to take enough of those chances to offset the issues within his game.
I actually think, due to his attributes, Hearts may get more from him out on the wing than as a proper striker.
Hugo Ahl
Dundee United have been linked with a couple of wingers early on that have piqued my interest. Hungarian winger Bence Babos and Swedish winger Hugo Ahl have both been linked with moves to the Tannadice side.
Ahl is 24 years old and stands at around 6’2, he mostly plays on the right wing for Zemplín Michalovce in the Slovakian top flight. He managed 10 goals and 4 assists in just over 2000 league minutes last season.
Ahl is a very front footed winger, wanting to attack the spaces around the back post or cut inside onto his weaker left to get shots off. He reacts very well to loose balls in the box and is comfortable shooting on either side.
When Ahl receives the ball here, he brings it under his spell quickly. He then brings the ball into close control, this forces the full back to be concerned about Ahl taking him on. Ahl is aware of the defensive help on its way and turns in quickly against the second defenders’ momentum. This creates the separation he needs for the shot.
He usually prefers to curl these shots with his left foot, when he tries to hit with the laces it takes him more time to prepare the shot. This time he has plenty of space but there are times where he squanders opportunities by failing to shoot quickly enough.
This second clip shows a couple of things, first, the ability to attack the back post and react in the box that I mentioned. As the ball progresses towards the box, notice how Ahl hangs back, in line with the ball carrier. He waits for the play to develop and his marker loses him completely when trying to cover someone else. He gets to the ball first and the left foot finish is assured.
The second thing it shows is one of my issues with Ahl’s game. Ahl is fast for his size, covering ground well with his long strides. He can get up to speed decently well, it’s the slowing down that’s the problem.
Notice as the ball comes in how Ahl has to stop and react to the ball behind him, it takes him a few steps to stop and even longer to change his momentum the other way. Luckily he has plenty of time in this instance but in tighter attacking situations, this could be the difference between a goal or a blocked shot.
Ahl is more of a scorer than a creator but he does have parts of his game that aid creativity. Despite how often he gets on his left, Ahl is more right footed and he uses this to drive down the outside and find teammates in the box.
He uses his movement before the pass to create separation, rather than carrying the ball. Ahl isn’t an incredible ball carrier over distance, so he uses intelligent movement and his strong first touch to create advantages.
With just a year left on his deal, I think there’s an opportunity for Dundee United to get a great deal here. Players who can stretch defences, move intelligently and score in multiple ways aren’t easy to come by for smaller teams. I hope that they continue this kind of talent identification throughout the window.
Ieuan Owen
Kilmarnock announced the signing of Barry Town United striker, Ieuan Owen. The 5’7 Welshman bagged 11 goals and an assist this season in the Cymru Premier.
When you see a smaller player achieve success, especially at just 20 years old, they usually have something about them that offsets the disadvantage. That’s what made me interested in watching Owen.
The main thing that stands out when watching Owen is his industry. He runs non stop to put pressure on opposing defences and creates chances this way often. Owen is aware of what he covers when pressing and that makes him more effective.
Owen is good at causing chaos but a lot of his best work comes from receiving around the edge of the box and getting quick shots away. His technique on the right foot gets consistent power, allowing him to pull off some great finishes.
His creativity is generally lacking for me, he doesn’t get involved much through the middle and gets physically outmatched by most opponents. He does show a bit more creative ability drifting out wide and taking on players 1v1.
In general play Owen struggles a lot to get involved, he floats about all over the pitch but doesn’t really have the ability to take the ball without a lot of space. If a pass is played to him under pressure, he is very easily bullied by opponents.
Kilmarnock are going to have to get players around him that can find him with passes in space. His out of possession work will be big for them and will probably get him some goals. I think this is a smart signing from Kilmarnock overall but there are big concerns about whether Owen will handle the physical intensity of Scottish football.
Alexander Briedl
Alexander Briedl is one of a few signings already announced by Aberdeen before the beginning of the window, as they look to return to the top half of the table.
The defensive midfielder moves on a free transfer after his contract ended at Austrian side BW Linz. I had already watched Briedl earlier in the year and some of his play caught my eye, which is why I chose him over the other Aberdeen incomings.
On the ball, I like Briedl’s mentality of moving the ball quickly while also looking for progressive options. He isn’t going to take progressive risks under pressure but during settled progression he looks to carve through the midfield.
There are a few little decisions in this clip that make a big difference. First Briedl waits on the defender to engage him before releasing the first pass, giving his winger more time.
Then he receives the ball in space and looks forward, strong pass on his weak foot into the half space and moves to receive again straight away. This opens up his ability to find a teammate on the weaker side of the play, who has the space for a shot.
Another part of Briedl’s game I like is his ability to recover at pace and then settle things back down. He has strong recovery pace and the willingness to get back.
Briedl is actually the one who takes the corner before this counter. He comes flying back to stop that counter, putting in a great challenge before his teammate mops up. He gets back up into the disorganised defensive shape and moves the ball through the pressure so his team can settle.
In terms of weaknesses, Briedl is not a real factor in the final third. His game is more about feeding the more attacking players than getting involved in the attack itself. Just 1 goal and 1 assist last season for Briedl encapsulates that pretty well. His one goal is a nice strike though:
Defensively I find that he is drawn to the ball a lot in situations that it’s not necessary, leaving gaps behind him. Despite his speed, Briedl is not particularly agile and if he’s taken out of the play his change of direction to recover isn’t great.
In the clip above, Briedl has a player in between himself and a teammate. Briedl wants to engage the player in possession but is too far away. He steps up anyway, right as the pass is played to the player next to him. This allows his opponent to receive against Briedl’s momentum and the player who passed the ball originally can run off Briedl’s blindside and into the box.
What Aberdeen have found for themselves is a solid all round midfielder who can handle the physicality in Scotland. Add to that his work ethic and ball progression skills, the Dons might have the foundational piece for their midfield. What’s most important now is to get the recruitment right for the players in front of him.
So in this first one, I’ve highlighted four players in the early summer that I think will have an impact on their teams next season. Hopefully these early profiles give supporters a better idea of what their new, or potential new, signings could bring.
Some weeks there will probably be more players looked at, but I wanted to start slowly with the transfer window not officially under way.