Scouting Report: Brazil’s Young Star Defender Lucas Beraldo

Written on 16/11/2023

Although I am not completely sure of the veracity of these reports, there are murmurs from Brazil that Liverpool have been keeping a close eye on São Paulo defender Lucas Beraldo ahead of a potential move in the January window.

Having not signed a defender in the summer, it is logically right to think that the Reds would look to add one in January. With Andrew Robertson out until the New Year at the least, there is a shortage of options on the left-hand side of the defence. Kostas Tsimikas is doing a decent job, but it is clear that another body could be really helpful with games coming thick and fast after the November international break till March and beyond.

Post the change in system where the left-back almost has to play as a left-sided centre-back of a back three when the team is in possession, the profile of player Liverpool are looking to sign is different to suppose when they were getting Tsimikas to back Robertson up in 2020.

Lucas Beraldo, 19, is a young Brazilian defender who started his youth career at Piracicaba before moving to the São Paulo U20s in January 2020. Having made his senior debut for the club last season, the defender has acclaimed a regular starting spot in the side in the current campaign.

The Brazil U20 international has played more than 2000 senior minutes this season, 1800 of them in the league. With only a few weeks to go for the league campaign to end in Brazil, he would be available for a potential January transfer with a few days of rest behind him.

Below, we take an in-depth look at the player, what his style is and what the numbers tell us about him.

Lucas Beraldo - Playing Style

Beraldo is an elegant left-footed centre-back who predominantly plays as a left-sided centre-back in a four-man defence (either in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 system). In the current season, he has been used as a left-sided centre-back in a three-man central defence. He has previously operated at left-back as well.

The 19-year-old is someone who is comfortable on the ball, reads the game well, is strong in duels both aerially and on the ground and possesses decent pace for the recovery runs.

Below, we have a touchmap of São Paulo’s recent game against Santos just to give us an idea of the areas the defender is comfortable operating in.

To hand over the context - the game ended in a goalless draw with Beraldo playing as a left-sided centre-back in a back four.

The touchmap gives us an idea of how front-footed the 19-year-old is as a defender. Although that was helped by the fact that São Paulo had 70% possession in the game, you need to have that bravery on the ball and the confidence to make recovery runs in defensive transition. 

The season heatmap below gives us a further indication of what we are talking about here.

Looking at this heatmap, it kind of gives me an understanding as to why Liverpool are eyeing up this player. He has covered the sort of ground Jürgen Klopp would possibly like from his left-back/left-sided defender in the new system. Someone who can play the Nathan Aké or the Joško Gvardiol role. We were linked with the latter in the summer for that reason.

Beraldo - 2023 Brazil Série A numbers

In this section, we will take a look at a few data visuals covering basic metrics for a defender and where Beraldo lies amongst the centre-backs in the Brazilian top-flight division in the current season.