Charlotte FC’s historic first ever signing is Sergio Ruiz. A 25-year old midfielder signed from Real Racing Club de Santander in the Spanish second division. A league that is rarely watched by Americans but has produced talent that has proven can strive in MLS. One of the most recent and best La Liga 2 talents to come to MLS is Toronto FC midfielder, Alejandro Pozuelo, who is a front runner to win MVP in the 2020 MLS season.
Even though Pozuelo plays in the midfield like Ruiz, he is limited to one position and role. Pozuelo is a specialized cheese knife, he is a master at one role. Ruiz on the other hand is a swiss army knife. He isn’t limited to just one position and role. He isn’t amazing at one thing but rather good at multiple things. One could say his specialty is… versatility?
In the modern game, high pressing systems dominate throughout the world. To play these high pressing systems, athletic and versatile midfielders are needed. Sergio Ruiz had a reported 10 European teams interested in loaning him. It is this versatility and athletism that made him so high in demand. So we know he’s versatile, but what stands out in Ruiz’s game?
Reading the Game
When people discuss midfielders they are quick to point out their tackles, interceptions, pass completion rate, etc. However, there is an underlying skill that is at the core of all these statistics and the lack of it hinders even the most talented of midfielders. That skill is reading the game.
What does that mean? Reading the game means the player’s ability to notice and integrate the moving information on the field, including the ball, the team members, the opponents, as well as the actions they perform.
Reading the game is key to high pressing systems which are heavily favored at the moment. In pressing systems, if one player isn’t aware of their surroundings and isn’t capable of reading the game it puts the whole system at risk of falling apart. It is this ability that makes Sergio so valuable to any team.
In this example in Sergio Ruiz’s Las Palmas debut against CD Leganés, he (white crown) is in extremely vulnerable position along with his teammate. His teammate and him are in a 3 versus 2 scenario. If the ball manages to get passed Sergio and his teammate to the opposing player in the red circle then it can expose the entire defense. The Leganes attacker would have acres of space to either pass to his two teammates behind him, carry the ball forward dribbling or play a splitting ball down the line to the wide player in the bottom left. Sergio recognizes that in order get to the ball to the player in the red circle, the player with the ball has to pass first to the player in the middle of the pitch at the halfway line. Sergio is aware of this potential threat before it becomes a real threat. But you can see a threat and not properly extinguish it.
Sergio, however, moves quickly to extinguish the threat. He runs towards the player receiving the pass before the pass even gets to him to apply pressure and avoid giving him an easy passing lane to the threat (red circle). If Sergio had instead opted to track back and cover red circle, then it would have given a passing lane to the player in the orange circle. If this player received the ball, it would be another set of new threats to the defense. Sergio made the right choice and rather opted to pressure the player in front of him.
Sergio is able to apply the pressure he wanted and forces the opposing player to try and dribble out of the pressure. He knows he has his teammate for help so he only has to force the opposing player to go wide. In doing this he continues to cover the passing lane towards red circle which only gives the Leganes player one option— to pass towards his winger in the bottom left.
The Leganes player runs out of dribbling room and is forced to pass to his winger. By this point, it is too late and the Leganes player has run into Sergio’s teammate who has closed down space between the Leganes player with the ball and the winger on the byline. Sergio’s teammate is set up for an easy tackle on the Leganes players right has he tries to pass to his winger forcing a turnover.
Because of Sergio’s ability to read the game, he was able to completely nullify a tactical advantage the opposing team had and force a loss of possession. In what otherwise could have easily resulted in Las Palmas’ defense being exposed and giving Leganes a goal scoring opportunity.
In this second example of Sergio’s ability to read the game, Sergio has been caught out by a pass made by the Zaragoza player which then is quickly passed down to the Zaragoza player furthest to bottom right.
However, Sergio doesn’t panic. He recognizes the biggest danger is a pass back to #2 on Zaragoza (red circle) because he would have a clear lane to dribble through the massive gap between the center backs. Instead of chasing down #2 he just runs in between #2 and the Zaragoza player who wants to make the pass in order to block that passing lane.
This results in the Zaragoza player having to make a difficult pass past Sergio that ends up deflecting off Sergio’s thigh and instead of #2 being able to receive the ball in his stride to run straight at goal, he has to receive the pass behind him. Sergio recognizes this and instead of trying to make the tackle there, he runs towards where he anticipates the Zaragoza player will turn towards.
This leads to an easy tackle for Sergio and the threat diminished. Even though Sergio was beat on the first initial pass, he wasn’t reactive but proactive. He read the situation, acted accordingly, and extinguished the threat as quick as it started.
Sergio Ruiz’s ability to read the game has also led to him having an impressive 8 interceptions in his first 5 games at Las Palmas on the defensive side of the game. In a league like MLS where most players play reactively, players who can read the game well always stand out and strive.
We’ve shown Sergio’s ability to read the game mostly on the defensive side but being the versatile player he is, his ability to read the game isn’t only limited to the defensive side of the game.
Vertical Play
At Las Palmas, Sergio has been assigned a more defensive role than what he had at his time in Santander. While he is solid in that strictly defensive midfielder position, a whole other great aspect of his game is not being utilized. His vertical playing ability…
Due to his role and position, Sergio Ruiz at Las Palmas is mostly limited to short sideways, backward and forward passes. However, Sergio is at his best when he has the freedom to use his dribbling to drive forward and carry the ball from a deep midfield position to a threatening attacking position. This is a vertical action.
Smarterscout, a soccer analysis platform, has a measuring system to determine a player’s effectiveness in a specific dimension of the game. They are scored on a 0 – 99 scale with 0 being not effective at all and 99 being extremely effective. The dribbling score is determined by moving the ball by advancing it uncontested at least 10% of the length of the field or by taking on a player. Sergio Ruiz during the 2019-20 season at Santander scored an astonishing 97 in the dribbling department.
The example below is a perfect example of Ruiz’s vertical offensive capability of carrying the ball directly towards the goal and creating a shot for himself. He recognizes the space ahead of him and is technically and athletically capable of beating the players in front of him.
While it may speak for itself, why is this ability to carry the ball vertically so important in a midfielder? If you can bypass the midfield as an opposing midfielder it forces the defenders to choose between the midfielder driving forward or the attackers surrounding him. It creates mismatches and opens up space to create goal scoring opportunities.
This other example is quite similar to the first but it just further showcases the ability Sergio has to single handily create something from nothing with his ability to drive the ball forward. His athleticism is a major contributing factor to his ability to carry the ball. He doesn’t have the greatest of ball control and isn’t a skillful player. However, he does have the speed and strength to power past his opponents which is evident in the clip.
With MLS being a very attack orientated league, games are very open, so the better transitioning team will normally always wins. Sergio Ruiz’s vertical playing ability to make a tackle on his team’s end of the field and immediately turn and carry the ball forward up the pitch while the opposing team is still trying to track back is going to be very valuable for Charlotte FC’s transitional play.
Leadership
One aspect that also stands out about Sergio Ruiz is his leadership ability. This is an aspect that can’t be quantified or backed by statistics but is very clear in watching Sergio’s demeanor on and off the pitch.
In personally talking with Sergio, he is a humble, approachable and friendly guy. When it comes to soccer, he is a disciplined and focused individual. He has the mentality and work ethic that can be contagious for a team. He has the maturity of a 30-year-old experienced player but is in fact only 25 himself.
This makes him captaining his old team Racing de Santander that much more impressive considering he was even younger then. He isn’t the captain for Las Palmas but that doesn’t stop him from taking a leadership role on that team. He not only leads through his actions but he is also very vocal on the pitch directing players in front and around him.
Conclusion
When Sergio Ruiz was announced as Charlotte’s first signing the club’s sporting director, Zoran Krneta, mentioned that Sergio was signed for his leadership ability, versatility, and to be a building block to build the team around. Zoran and Scouting Director Thomas Schaling-De Herder unsurprisingly were spot on with Sergio.
He is a complete midfielder who can play in a two-man or three-man midfield. He is athletic and has a great understanding of the game. He can defend, pass, dribble, shoot, and is capable of doing whatever is asked of him and do it well. He can be an offensive threat but isn’t afraid to also do the dirty work on the defensive end. He is a leader on and off the pitch who will push and improve his teammates around him. And the best part? He is only 25 years old.
He still has much room to improve his game. Chances are when Charlotte gets Sergio Ruiz in 2022 he is going to arrive an even better player than he is right now. The coach at Las Palmas has shown a lot of trust and confidence in Sergio and has started him in every match of the five they have played so far without Sergio not able to have been apart of their preseason. He will get plenty of playing time and has a year and a half to further improve his weaker aspects of his game such as his first touch but also get even stronger at all his strengths.
In talking with Sergio Ruiz, he is very passionate about the Charlotte FC project and is dying to get started. He believes his playing style and athleticism will translate well to MLS. Especially because he has been told by Charlotte that the vertical, attacking, aggressive playing style he prefers will be played by the team. It seems clear that Charlotte FC is going to put Sergio in the best position for him to succeed. Firstly with the style we are going to play and secondly playing Sergio in his preferred box-to-box role in a 3 man midfield.
Charlotte FC is getting an exceptional, versatile midfielder who could have easily continued playing in Europe for many more years but lucky for Charlotte has chosen MLS and the Queen City. He is dedicated, focused, and passionate about the team on and off the pitch. Charlotte not only has a fantastic player but also a fantastic teammate, leader, and possibly their first ever club captain.
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