Who Is This 19-year Old Striker That Tottenham And Arsenal Are Chasing? Everything You Need To Know

Scout Report – Yann Karamoh

Arch-rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are poised to go head to head in the chase of SM Caen youngster Yann Karamoh, a report from the Sunday People (via Daily Star) claims.

The Gunners were linked with a move for the 19-year old forward earlier this month as well, with the Sun claiming that Arsenal, along with Southampton were showing interest in the youngster. But now, it seems like Arsenal’s local rivals Tottenham have also joined them in the pursuit of the highly-rated Karamoh.

Arsenal are no strangers to bringing in young players from France and developing and nurturing them at the club. And more recently, Spurs too have been looking at young and promising talent from the region but haven’t had great success with the likes of Clinton N’Jie and Georges-Kevin N’Koudou. With Karamoh on the radars of both the North London clubs, we bring you the lowdown on the 19-year old and what he will offer to the teams.

Footballing Background

Born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on 8 July 1998, Karamoh joined the academy of French club Racing Colombes in 2006 as an 8-year old. Having spent five years with the club, the youngster switched to the SM Caen academy in 2011.

Having risen through the ranks, the forward broke into the reserve side in the 2015-16 season and signed his first professional contract with the club in December 2015. He made 28 appearances for the reserves that season, producing an impressive return of 11 goals, that earned him a call-up to the first-team ahead of the 2016/17 campaign.

Karamoh made his debut for Caen on 13 August 2016, in a 3-2 win against Lorient, at the age of 18 years 01 months and 05 days. He went on to make 35 appearances for the club in the Ligue1, finishing with 5 goals and 4 assists and was one of their better players as Caen finished in a lowly 17th place.

The 19-year old has represented the France national team at all youth levels, starting from the U16s to the U21s. He has played twice for the U21s twice, having broken into the team in June this year. 

Style of Play

Primarily a centre-forward, Karamoh can play down the flanks as well and was heavily used on the right-hand side of the attack by Caen manager Patrick Garande last season.

Blessed with blistering pace, the 19-year old also possesses very good dribbling abilities to go along with it. Standing at 6ft, Karamoh has got a robust physique as well and uses it well to brush aside defenders. Pace, power and skills – these attributes make him a tricky customer to deal with in the final third. Playing out wide, he has shown a good creative edge to his game and has the ability to go wide and hug the touchline or cut inside as well.

Despite his strength, the France youth international isn’t the best in air and needs to add the skill of playing with his back to the goal as well. His finishing too isn’t the most clinical and needs to be worked upon, along with his final delivery.

What Does the Future Hold?

The youngster is someone with a tremendous amount of potential without a doubt, but is still quite far from being the finished article.

The amount of interest in him has been indicative of the fact that he is regarded very highly, but for him to grow into a star, a lot of work needs to be done. With so many top clubs monitoring him, an exit in the summer is very much on the cards, but moving to a club where he will not be playing as much may not be the most ideal for his development to continue.