Since Jordan Morris opted to play for the Seattle Sounders over Werder Bremen in Germany almost five years ago, his ability has been overshadowed by one question. Can he cut it in Europe? His opportunity to prove that he can has finally arrived. Second place Swansea City in the English Championship has officially announced the 6-month-loan signing with an option to buy Morris.
With promotion at stake, Swansea has been scrambling to increase their depth this January transfer window. A large part due to loanees Morgan Gibbs-White, Kasey Palmer, and Viktor Gyokeres all being recalled to their parent clubs. With Swansea pushing for a promotion, manager Steve Cooper is looking to bolster his attacking options.
Morris has been a key attacking piece to the Seattle Sounder’s recent success. Winning two MLS Cups during his 4 seasons played there, Morris being crucial in those MLS Cup runs. Jordan has accumulated 42 goals and 21 assists in 129 games for the Sounders. While European interest has been there for Morris since 2016, Jordan Morris will be leaving the MLS for the first time in his career at 26-years-old.
Player Profile
Jordan Morris is an incredibly hard working and flexible attacking option. He can play any forward position but has found his best form playing as an inverted winger on the left for Seattle. The most obvious strength Morris has is his powerful running ability. Morris’s stocky physique is not one of a typical soccer player and combined with his impressive speed it makes for a dangerous combination.
His pace and power are the main attributes that define his playing style. He uses them to explode past players one versus one but also to play off the shoulder of defenders and run in behind. The latter being a very useful ability to Swansea and their system. More on that later.
However, Morris isn’t only all brute strength and speed. An underrated aspect in Morris’s game is his playmaking ability. While he’s no number ten, Morris does possess good vision and passing ability for a direct attacker like himself. He shouldn’t be relied on to be the creative catalyst of a team but can link up play nicely, cross the ball, and create if needed. It is one of the aspects of his game that he has improved on the most throughout the years.
One of the main reasons that Morris’s playmaking ability was hindered early on in his career was that he practically had no left foot. Morris was heavily dependent on his right foot and it was holding him back. He realized this and has drastically improved it. He isn’t fully two-footed but is capable of consistently crossing and scoring on his weaker left foot.
The most impressive part about Morris, however, isn’t his pace, power or playmaking but his incredible worth ethic. Morris leaves everything on the pitch every time he steps on it. On offense he is constantly moving either looking for the ball or running in behind. He runs after every 50/50 and isn’t afraid to run back on defense and put in a tackle to stop a counter. If one thing is guaranteed that you will be getting from Morris every time he is on the pitch is 110% effort.
Some weaker aspects of his game are his finishing and close control dribbling.
While Morris’s finishing isn’t terrible by any means it is nothing special. It’s very average. Due to his smart off the ball movement, most of Morris’s goal-scoring opportunities are high percentage shots. For these high percentage opportunities, his finishing ability is more than sufficient. With that said though, Morris is by no means a clinical finisher.
While Morris has definitely improved his first touch and dribbling it still isn’t anything super impressive. His strength definitely comes with having space to work with. When playing against really defensive sides who don’t give much space he can struggle. He doesn’t have the close control required to beat opponents one versus one in tight spaces in and around the box.
So how does Jordan Morris fit at Swansea City under Steve Cooper’s system?
Swansea City
Swansea City has found plenty of success playing a 352 under Steve Cooper this season. The most obvious thing that stands about Cooper’s current system is that there are no wingers. This seems to be an immediate problem on paper because Jordan Morris’s preferred position is left-winger. The current two strikers in Cooper’s 352 are André Ayew (left) and Jamal Lowe (right). However, they don’t play a traditional number nine role.
Ayew’s role is that of a deep-lying forward who drops deeper to help in the transition from defense to attack. He’s the creative playmaker of the two strikers so you want him to be on the ball as much as possible. Therefore he has complete freedom to roam and drop to receive the ball from any position he sees fit.
Lowe’s role on the other hand is to pull defenses by drifting wide and running in behind. Sound familiar to a particular Sounder’s strengths? Lowe has been in top form recently scoring 7 goals in his last 7 games. He won’t be losing his starting position anytime soon but his role fits Morris’s strengths.
Morris would most likely be filling this role to give Lowe a break as a sub or playing the cup games. They also happen to be the same exact age with Lowe being the elder of the two by 3 months. Morris’s speed and smart off-ball movement are perfectly suited to this role. He would not only be providing depth but also competition to Lowe in that position.
The other but less likely possibility is that Steve Cooper switches to a 343 formation. With Morris as the left forward, Lowe as the right forward, and Ayew in the middle of them playing the false 9. While this is much less likely, it is possible if Morris impresses enough and Lowe keeps his fine form. Cooper could want to find a way to fit all three players in the starting line up and a 343 could be a very viable option to do so.
Conclusion
Jordan Morris has finally decided to step out of his comfort zone and is headed to Europe. It is a six-month loan that could potentially change the entire perception of his career. It is an opportunity for him to prove to American fans and more importantly himself that he can cut it in Europe. He is being thrown straight into the fire in the midst of Swansea City’s promotion battle in the Championship. If he performs well and helps Swansea get promoted it could potentially mean he will become a Premier League player.
For Swansea City, they are getting a tireless worker and a dynamic player who can make an immediate impact. They are getting such player on a low-risk loan deal but with high potential upside. Jordan Morris’s direct playing style, power, and speed are all well suited to the Championship. Not to mention that in terms of culturally adapting it should be easier for Morris considering he already speaks English.
A great opportunity has arrived for Jordan Morris in Europe, it’s now up to him to prove to everyone he has what it takes.
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