Football scouts are used to going after one prospect, and accidentally leave a match with another name in the notepad.
This is how Juan Gafas ran into an exciting player with a diverse background and fascinating football player like Georges Mikautadze.
Georges Mikautadze
Age: 19
Club: RFC Seraing (Belgium, 2nd tier - on loan from Metz)
Position: Forward
Nationality: French, Georgian
Market Value: 200.000 € (Transfermarkt)
Why follow him? At the age of 19, Mikautadze leads the Belgian 2nd tier scoring table with twelve goals in just six games, scoring 4 times on his debut and leading newly promoted Seraing to the top of the table.
Belgium football is not one I get to watch too often, but checking on Manfred Ugalde’s progress, I came across this young French striker who just can’t stop scoring.
Having watched him in full games only twice you should take my notes with pinch of salt, but his stats are impressive nonetheless; Mikautadze scores more than twice than his xG, leads the league in total dribbling attempts and doing so with a very good success rate (currently top 5 in the league).
One thing that stood out about him was his awareness to opponents and space upon receiving the ball, orienting it with his first touch to enable him to get away from the defender and quickly go forward or create an attempt on goal. This quality is very important for a player his size (1.78 cm and quite thin), who has good change of pace but not real speed and power.
He can create for himself when receiving in wide areas and taking opponents 1-on-1, using his quick feet and acceleration, not limiting himself only towards his favorite right and showing good finishing with both feet. While not always making the runs he should, his off the ball movement is not bad, especially inside the box where he knows how to find spaces to receive.
Last season Mikautadze played from Metz B side in the French 5th tier, scored 8 goals and made a Ligue 1 debut of 10 minutes. Although he has things to improve in his game I do not think it will be too risky to say that next season he will could add more Ligue 1 minutes to his record.
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Photo via RFC Seraing Official Twitter.
