Tete scouted: Will Celtic level-up in Europe thanks to him?

The soon-to-be free agent spent last season on loan in France with Lyon and Leicester City, where he worked with new Parkhead boss Brendan Rodgers.

His contract is set to expire at the end of this year anyway, but Tete has stated his desire to rip up the remainder of his deal with Shakhtar, due to his concerns about his safety in Ukraine, amidst their ongoing conflict with Russia.

This scouting report will analyse the Brazilian under-23 international's data and take a closer look at his playing style to assess what he could offer Celtic, should a move to Parkhead materialise in the coming days and weeks.

Player profile

Born in February 2000, Tete came through the ranks at his hometown side Gremio in Brazil, where he signed his first professional contract. He never actually made a first-team appearance for Gremio, though, with 33 goals for their reserve side in one season, that was enough to convince Shakhtar to shell out €15m to take him to Ukraine in early 2019.

Tete made 10 appearances in the second half of that season following his move, scoring four goals and providing three assists before becoming a regular the following season, where he bagged nine goals and chipped in with five assists.

He enjoyed another consistent season in 2020/21 with Shakhtar, making 36 appearances and contributing a further eight goals and five assists. It was in Europe where Tete made his mark in 20/21 though – the winger played in all six of Shakhtar's Champions League group-stage matches, scoring and assisting in the Ukrainian side’s famous 3-2 win over Real Madrid in October 2020. 

The following season saw Tete help Shakhtar back into the Champions League group stages through the qualifying route. Although, they didn't hit the same heights as the season before, ending up with just two points from their six games. Tete was again key domestically, though, with ten goal contributions in Ukraine’s top flight that season.

With the 20/21 season halted due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Tete, like many of Ukraine’s international players, was given special dispensation to temporarily join Lyon for the remainder of the campaign. There, he made 11 appearances for the Ligue 1 side before the end of the season, scoring twice and laying on five more.

Tete remained on loan in France with Lyon, where he was similarly productive in the first part of last season, with 11 goals contributions in all competitions before joining Rodgers’ Leicester in the January window.

He struggled somewhat at the King Power, with Rodgers’ departure coming just weeks after his arrival, scoring just once in 19 appearances as the former Premier League champions were relegated under Dean Smith.

Although used on the left and through the middle at Shakhtar on a few occasions, the left-footed Brazilian has played predominately as an inverted winger on the right during his career so far, playing almost exclusively there in his Lyon and Leicester spells. In terms of his physical profile, Tete is 5’9” and 11 stone.

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Data Analysis

The charts below can build a picture of Tete’s playing style. Using Wyscout per-90 data converted into percentile ranks, the charts compare him to other wingers in the Premier League (second half of last season) and Ligue 1 (first half of last season). The charts are split into three sections and cover several key attacking, possession and defending metrics.                                                                                                          

Before digging into these, it is worth highlighting, given his season was split over two clubs, the smaller sample sizes of these charts (Tete played 790 minutes for Leicester after playing 1,150 minutes with Lyon).

That said, they can still help shed more light on his performances in both those spells, as well as highlighting his style of play.

His first chart, which compares him against all other Premier League wingers who played a minimum of 700 minutes in the second part of the season, underlines Tete’s struggle to make an impact at Leicester.

He ranks towards the bottom for almost all his attacking metrics. He attempted an above-average number of shots for a Premier League winger in the second part of last season but his on-target percentage of 13.23 per cent was one of the worst for a player in his position. 

The one area that does stand out somewhat is his dribbling. He is just under the 50th percentile for volume (4.22 per 90), but above average for his success rate, completing 54.05 per cent of his dribbles. He also ranks highly for his progressive runs (3.08 per 90), a progressive run being a continuous ball control that draws the team significantly closer to the opponent's goal.

His ranks for progressive and dangerous passes (a combination of key passes and through passes) are just under the 50th percentile rank. He appears to have been active enough off-the-ball, with 5.35 defensive duels per 90, and he just was under average for his success rate in these types of duels (55.32 per cent). His 2.7 PAdj Interceptions per 90 were in the bottom quartile for a Premier League winger during his time in the English top flight.

Given Rodgers’ departure led to several changes in the system under his replacement Smith, including a 3-5-2 which did not include wingers, there is perhaps some mitigation to his struggles at Leicester. He certainly wasn’t the only quality player not to hit the heights at the King Power last season, anyway.  

The second chart, which covers the 2022/23 Ligue 1 season up until Tete’s move to the East Midlands, reflects the Brazilian’s much more productive spell in France.

Here we can see a more rounded profile. His dribbling and progressive run ranks are impressive, as they were to some extent in his Premier League chart, but his attacking output is much bigger here. He scores around the 75th percentile for all attacking metrics except goal contributions where his very impressive 0.47 goals per 90 and 0.23 assist per 90 see him rank in the 92nd percentile. He also ranks higher for his progressive passes and his dangerous passes.

Although just as active in terms of defensive duels, he won more of these duels in Ligue 1 with his 62.86 per cent win rate from 5.45 defensive duels per 90, seeing him place in the 83rd percentile. He also made more interceptions per 90 with Lyon and was above average for a Ligue 1 winger during the first part of last season for that particular metric.

Before moving on to look at some of Tete’s attributes in greater detail, it is also worth highlighting the below radar from StatsBomb which covers his six Champions League group stage matches with Shakhtar in 2021/22.

Given the differences in his loan spells in England and France, this radar can give a bit more evidence about what kind of player Tete really is.

Although Shakhtar did not perform as well in the group stage that season, compared to the previous one, Tete shows up well here with some similar trends in his data from the percentile rank charts, particularly his time with Lyon, evident.  

Again, this is just a small 6.0 90s sample size, which also includes their play-off tie to get into the group stages, but the winger certainly still matches up well with his positional peers on the European stage here.

He stands out for ball security, completing 83 per cent of his passes while his ability to get to high-quality goal-scoring opportunities is here evident too. His xG per shot (0.12) scores in the 80th percentile while his overall xG value of 0.18 per 90 sees him comfortably above the 50th percentile rank.

His effective dribbling is apparent once again, completing 2.32 per 90 (85th percentile), while he was also amongst the most fouled for a player in his position in that season’s Champions League (3.48 per 90).

Mirroring his decent defensive output with Lyon, his pressure regains (3.48 per 90) is also very encouraging, placing him in the 88th percentile versus other attacking midfielders and wingers that year's edition of Europe’s top club competition.

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Attacking

Tete’s output in the final third in his career so far, his recent spell with Leicester aside, has been excellent.

The above shot map, which maps his shot locations from the last calendar year, shows he slightly underperformed on his xG (8 goals from an xG of 9.18), but over the course of his career he has been a remarkably reliable finisher, highlighted but the fact his total career 0.37 goals per 90 comes from the exact same xG value per 90.

As seen in his Champions League radar, the winger regularly gets high-quality chances. His shot map highlights this again with his total xG of 9.18 from 66 shots in the last year working out at a relatively high 0.14 xG per shot.

Taking by far the majority of his shots with his stronger left, Tete gets to these higher-quality shot locations thanks to his clever movement and well-timed runs into central areas from the right wing.

His one goal in his spell at Leicester was a good example of Tete’s movement from out to in to create a high-quality chance.

Starting in the inside right channel as Leicester win the ball back on the other side of the pitch, Tete made a well-timed curved run into the centre of the pitch to attack the space in behind Aston Villa’s backline.

Using his blistering pace, Tete made a blind side run behind Villa defender Tyrone Mings to latch onto Kelechi Iheanacho’s through ball before taking an excellent first touch to round Emiliano Martinez and finish coolly.

Another example of his movement creating high-quality scoring chances is shown below.

This time from his spell in France, Tete initially makes a movement across the front of the Toulouse full-back as Lyon progresses the ball.

As the ball is worked through the middle of the pitch, Tete continues to drift into the middle of the pitch.

After receiving a through ball from Alexandre Lacazette, Tete then does get a slice of luck as his shot is deflected in but his movement and ability to exploit space earned him that luck.

As well as a goal-threat himself, Tete’s vision and awareness in the final third allowed him to identify and exploit gaps in the opposing defence to create chances for his teammates too.

In transition or regular attacks, the winger often makes intelligent decisions in and around the box, such as in the example below.

Here, after a dangerous dribble, more on that in the next section, Tete finds himself in possession on the edge of the Lorient box. In this scenario, many players, especially one so effective off their left, would be tempted to shoot. Tete shows brilliant awareness to spot Lacazette free on the left, rolling the ball out to his teammate for a better scoring opportunity which the former Arsenal man takes.

His assist in Shakhtar’s headline-grabbing 3-2 win over Real Madrid in 2020 was another example of his vision and intelligence in the final third.

Again, coming in off the right to attack the central space, Tete showed great awareness and some classic Brazilian flair to backheel the ball, while carrying it at speed, into the path of Manor Soloman who then stepped into the box to finish.

Possession

One of Tete’s standout attributes is his dribbling. He possesses explosive acceleration, allowing him to gain a yard of space quickly, making him a particular threat in transitions. His speed and agility also enable him to stretch defences, as seen in some of his finishing examples.

The above graphic shows just how efficient he is in his dribbling too, with possession retained following almost 75 per cent of his dribbles.

As indicated in his chart from his Leicester spell, even despite his struggles there, his dribbling was the one attribute that remained prevalent, as can be seen in the below example.

Picking up possession in a central area, Tete’s excellent close control and ability to quickly shift the ball saw him weave through two Fulham players to create a shooting opportunity which he flashed just wide of the far post.

As well as creating goal-scoring opportunities through his dribbling in the final third, Tete is also capable of longer dribbles from deeper areas that can exploit large areas of space, something which was evidenced in his high ranks for progressive runs in his percentile rank charts earlier.  

The above ball progression graphic highlights this while also showing his ability to be an effective progressor through his passing too. It also further highlights that tendency for him to cut in from the right onto his left.

His passing in key areas graphic also highlights his willingness to help facilitate build-up play further with both his xGChain and xGBuildup values relatively high for a winger.

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Defending

Although not Tete's most valuable attribute, his work rate and defensive contribution are still notable aspects of his game. He certainly displays a willingness to track back and help defensively, generally showcasing good defensive discipline and an ability to press opponents effectively, again something we saw some evidence of in his StatsBomb radar and his defensive ranks in his Lyon percentile rank chart.

His athleticism and stamina help him cover large distances on the pitch too – something that would be a particular asset for a Celtic attacker in the Champions League.

The above graphic gives a bit more insight into his off-the-ball contribution recently. In the last year, he has averaged 1.03 recoveries in the final third per 90 and 0.23 dangerous recoveries per 90.

These don’t rank too highly vs other Premier League players but two of his recoveries did lead to two goals in the last 12 months.  

Conclusion

His difficult spell at Leicester aside, during which there were some mitigating circumstances, Tete has proven to be a Champions League-level winger.

At Lyon, one of Ligue 1’s more dominant sides, and Shakhtar, a Champions League group stage regular, he produced some seriously high-quality performances.  

Lightning-quick, the Brazilian is a dependable finisher and intelligent creator. A highly effective dribbler, his technical ability means he can offer more, in terms of ball progression, from deeper areas too. 

If he were indeed to arrive in Glasgow’s East End, there is no doubt he would bring an extra level of quality that could well help Celtic make that much-talked-about impact on the European stage.