Marcus Thuram is unique

Yes, he's Lilian Thuram's son, so let's just get that out of the way. But it's not crazy to think that some day soon, even older French fans will associate the famous last name with the son more than the father. Ladies and gentlemen, Marcus Thuram is that good.

He wasn't always seen that way. Back in the 2017-18 season at Guingamp, he was considered predictable, with poor technique and little understanding of his role. He was only 20 years old back then and playing mainly at CF, with very low attacking output. Yet when he started to get more games as a rampaging LW, he really came into his own. Here's his smartermap from this season – those big purple markers are a mix of short passes and dribbles, so he needs to work in combination with another forward or attacking midfielder:

And then there are all those touches in the box, mainly short passes and shots from dangerous positions. Once Thuram gets going, it's hard to stop him. Here are his stats there at a Premier League standard, because we're pretty sure that's where he'll end up:

Not only does Thuram have very good attacking output at a Premier League standard, he'd also be among the best LWs the league in ground duels with the ball. He's outstanding in the air in all situations and an aggressive defender overall. In fact, if we use our "Search by metrics" to look for players who can match his attacking output and his skill in duels throughout our entire database, here's the list:

That's right, there's only one Marcus Thuram. But we can also see whether any players with similar styles have been operating in the Premier League lately using our "Search by metrics". There are a few whom you've probably heard of:

All of these guys are wingers who like to get into the box – a better term for them might be "wide strikers". If we compare the two closest matches side-by-side with Thuram, we can see the similiarities in style:

Thuram doesn't shoot quite as much as Richarlison or have ball retention to match Christian Pulisic, but he's still an all-action player who should be able to take on Premier League defenders with relative ease. Where we think he needs to improve most is in his finishing. He's mostly scored at par with the quality of his chances, judged by a generic Premier League player's likelihood of scoring. That would still be a mediocre return for a top striker, and the goalkeepers in the Premier League are tougher than those of the Bundesliga (where Thuram would rate 26 for finishing non-headers in open play) and especially Ligue 1 (where he'd rate 31).

But these are quibbles. Thuram is a powerful player who has clearly learned to use his gifts in the past two seasons, and at age 22 he can only get better. Watch this space.

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