“Christos Zafeiris: The Versatile Midfielder Making Waves at Just 21”[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaNSpdLkVIA[/embed]

The performances of 21-year-old midfielder Christos Zafeiris speak for themselves regarding the quality and talent he possesses; however, this is also reflected in the Wyscout numbers, which show that he can do everything in midfield, whether as an 8, a 10, or a 6.

Already this year, he has made a strong start to the season, recording seven appearances. Three in the league and four in the Champions League qualifiers, achieving six wins and one loss to Lille (2-0), which he could not overturn in the return match despite his excellent performance and goal. From these matches alone, Zafeiris has one assist and two goals (the winning goals against Teplice and Lille), but let’s take a closer look at his numbers…

Actions against Roma

Initially, he has a fairly good success rate in the actions he has undertaken, reaching 62%. In terms of development and ball circulation, Zafeiris shows to be a very useful tool, as he has a 71% success rate in accurate passes out of a total of 81 he has made, and 75% success in long passes in a total of 16 actions.

At the same time, in his defensive duties, he may not be strong in aerial play, but in duels, he is not the easiest opponent, as evidenced by his 57% success rate in duels.

However, particular interest is also gathered from last season, where the 21-year-old midfielder displayed his abilities in Czech football and was one of the key figures in the club. The data comes from the 39 appearances he made across all competitions, tallying 4 goals and as many assists, with a total of 2470 minutes.

During this period, he scored four goals and provided three assists, which came in the Europa League against Sheriff, Servette, and Milan, while he scored against Sheriff, Budějovice, Slovan Liberec, and Mladá Boleslav.

The heatmap for the 2023/24 season

Furthermore, he had a total of 2034 actions last season, and of those, 64% were successful, showing how impactful he was in Slavia Prague’s game. Generally, he is a player who likes to… shoot, as he had 41 shots, scoring both inside and outside the box, while six of these were outside the area and on target.

More than half was the percentage of successful dribbles as he had 105 attempts in 39 games, and in 55% of those situations, he came out victorious. However, as mentioned above, particular interest lies in what he does in the passing game and in the build-up for the Prague team.

We are talking about a midfielder who has an 83% success rate from 1103 passes made throughout the season, all while playing in a crucial position for the team. Additionally, he attempted 107 long balls where 57 found a teammate, and although he is a midfielder, he made a total of 40 crosses into the opponent’s area.

Duels against Saint-Gilloise

Vertical football was his… weakness, as he passed the ball into the third half 160 times, with 114 going to teammates, which is a remarkable 71% (!), while he had 86 passes inside the opponent’s area, where the percentage was also high (46%). Besides passing, Zafeiris contributed to the offensive side as well, making an average of two incursions into the opponent’s area per match.

Finally, the Greek footballer provided valuable assistance in defensive aspects as well, engaging in a total of 160 battles, winning 110 of them, while being a constant presence across the pitch, covering dozens of kilometers on the field.

In short, Christos Zafeiris is a footballer who has the complete package to cover three positions in midfield, something that is lacking in the national team, and he is at a young age (21 years) with ample experience on a European level as well as experience from the Norwegian U21s.