Youte and de Haas Benchmarking

Celtic center half rumors explored

Given Brendan Rodgers’ comments after the Hayato Inamura signing and then his lining up at left back during his first appearance versus Cork City, it may be safe to assume that Inamura was not the 1st choice center half target of the manager.

Two recent rumored Celtic targets for the position certainly seem, at least at the surface, to be more classically center halves than Inamura: Etienne Youte and Justin de Haas.

Youte will turn 24 in January and is listed in Wyscout at 196 cm tall, and just finished his 2nd consecutive season playing in Ligue 1 at Le Havre. He played mostly as the right side of a back four or middle of a back three.

Justin de Haas will turn 26 in February and is listed at 194 cm, and just completed his 2nd consecutive season playing in Primeira Liga at Famalicao. He is left footed and played mostly as the left center half in a 4-2-3-1.

I am including these two players in the same exercise as a way to try and consolidate these pieces given the volume of rumored names and signings. Please remember, the peer groups for each players are from the leagues in which they played and are NOT the same. The percentiles are meant to gauge how they performed within the specific context of their competitive environments, which were different.