Jesus Ferreira - Turning Chances Into Goals

Name: Jesus David Ferreira Castro

Age: 21

Position: Striker

Nationality: American

Club: FC Dallas

Jesus Ferreira the fast and dynamic darling of FC Dallas, 24 goal contributions in the 2022 season from 35 games (31 starts).

The MLS is arguably the most progressive league in the world right now as it goes from strength or strength with new franchises joining, the huge TV deal courtesy of Apple and a generation of talent that looks like it could really make an impact when the next World Cup strolls into USA, Canada and Mexico.

The days of over the hill players from Europe going and being the stars of the teams is dying away and guys like Ferreira, Almada, Vazquez and Brenner are ushering in a new era of young stars ready to shine. Then you have a bunch of young Americans that are starting to establish themselves in Europe with guys like Dest, Aaronson, Adams, McKennie and a few others all making good progress.

Jesus Ferreira is the son of David Ferreira who was a Colombian international who spent most of his career in Colombia but who also spent a few years playing for FC Dallas from 2009 to 2013, at which point he left to go back to Colombia but his wife stayed in the USA with her children. Jesus first signed on with FC Dallas at the age of 15 having played for their youth teams and then he scored on his debut a year later. The promise was already there according to his coaches but as a young striker they felt he needed more games and so he joined Tulsa Roughnecks on loan for a season to get games under his belt and again he showed promise, scoring a few goals before he headed back to FC Dallas. Over time he has gone up levels and this year it cullminated in him being named the Young Player of the Season in the MLS.

Having watched a fair bit of MLS in general this season I would always say that the one thing I like about it is that games are generally fairly open and teams look to win because the format allows for it, as opposed to teams in other leagues who maybe play with a lot of fear due to the consequences of relegation. I think that format makes the MLS a great learning ground, especially for young attackers who can play with more freedom and has given a guy like Ferreira a platform to build the foundations of who he is as a player, and he is a good one.

The things that impress me the most about Ferreira are that he has a good natural instinct for the game as a whole and as a striker. One thing that personally drives me crazy is when you see teams clear balls from set plays and it goes to the opposite side of the pitch from where the man who is left upfield is positioned. Ferreira seems to read the angles available to his defenders well and makes a real effort to be in areas that allow them to aim for him quickly. Any striker who tries to make life easier for his defenders to do their jobs is one who will be appreciated.

When he has the ball in open play he again shows a good awareness and demonstrates that he has the picture of what is happening in his head, which allows him to focus on his actions. He regularly drops off the central defenders to take a ball in and then quickly turns it round the corners for his attacking partners Velasco and Arriola to move on to at pace, and most important of all in that sequence he gets on his bike to look for the return ball. At times I've watched him do this and wonder if he is very fast or if the defenders are really slow because he moves with in such a smooth manner, he almost appears to glide at times as he eats up the yards.

Then we move up into zones where he really excelled last season, the box. His finsihing is 90% about placement. He likes to pick his spots with the inside of his right foot,12 of his 18 goals coming off his stronger foot. He's not scared to let the left do some work either as it chipped in with 4 goals and 2 headers to make up the 18. The vast majority of those goals have come from inisde the box and what he does really well is position himself in pockets of space when the ball is in wide areas to allow him to take first time or one touch and shoot efforts. It's the movement more than anything that gets him goals, again he appears to have the picture in his head and his movements are subtle but quick. Whether it be getting across the defender to the near post or the dart in and step back to get his yard, all his movements in that area keep defenders on edge.

The calmness in his play also makes him a good final third passer as he creates a lot of good quality chances for his team with well weighted passes into space that allow Velasco and Arriola to move on to and get shots off as well. As a trio they work really nicely and are all good at moving into each others roles to make it more difficult to pin them down with any attempts at man-marking. They scored 35 of the 48 league goals for Dallas last season.

There are areas like any player that Ferreira could improve and they are the fundimentals of what makes a top tier striker. His calmness is a great part of his make-up but he could use an edgy side to his game as well, there are situations where he looks for a pass when for me he would benefit from being a little more selfish / ruthless. He also needs to be more demanding, often he breaks the last line or finds a great space but the ball is delayed or just doesn't come and he seems so chilled about it, but to be the main man at the highest level sometimes you need to bend a few ears and let the team know that you can be the main man.

In recent days there have been links suggesting that Ferreira is in the line of sight of Arsenal and they are a great club with a manager who is showing he likes to work with young guys who want to develop, but Ferreira needs to think about the steps he takes to go where he wants to go longer term and as much as I rate him I don't see him getting many games at Arsenal and so he'd develop on the training pitch but at 21 his development will be better served by playng 20/30+ games a season. Interesting times ahead for Jesus Ferreira and hope the talent he has continues to grow and shine.

Thanks for reading.

R