Scouting: Valentin Atangana Edoa
A versatile midfielder shining in France
Ligue 1 has long been a hotbed for young players to develop themselves and has already established itself as a ‘shopping market’ for some of the most powerful clubs in Europe. This season, we’re seeing lots of interesting midfielders cementing his place as the stars of France: you may have heard good things already about João Neves, Andrey Santos, Lamine Camara… but you should be paying attention to another player.
Stade Reims’s Valentin Atangana first caught my eye at the U19 EURO (read more about it here), being one of the most consistent performers in the French squad that ended up losing the title to Spain. Since then, I’ve been keeping tabs on him and noticed that he became a regular starter this season at Ligue 1. When someone so young starts games in a really physical league such as the French one (playing as a holding midfielder, no less), we should take notice.
All stats are correct up until 01/11/2024, per FBRef, unless noted otherwise.
Roles and positions
After debuting for Stade Reims at just 17 years old in 2023, Atangana spent most of the following season in and out of the team, totaling 15 league apps — in the meantime, he was also one of standout performers at the U19 EURO. Then came the 24/25 season and he started every game so far under new manager Luka Elsner.
Across the 770 minutes he played in the current Ligue 1 season, I’ve seen Atangana playing next to defenders in the first phase of possession and also crashing the box as an attacking midfielder. However, most of his minutes came in a deeper role, as a lone 6 or alongside another player in a double pivot. Elsner’s squad shifted between a 4-3-3 and a 4-2-3-1 so far.
Defensive skills
Off-ball movement
Upon watching him during out of possession phases, one of the things that stands out in Atangana’s game is his defensive awareness, quite refined for someone so young. Playing in a more zonal marking system, he’s able to alternate effectively between tracking runners to cover another defender and keeping a more central position to prevent entries into the central area of the box. He’s comfortable holding both FB and CB positions to allow his teammates to be more aggressive when pressing, going back to the middle when they eventually return. Atangana’s reading of the game means he’s constantly moving around to close down spaces, keeping the backline tighter with almost every defensive move he makes.
See the example below, against Paris Saint-Germain. Kang-in Lee pins the left-side fullback, spreading the back four horizontally and creating space inside for a run in the half-space.
As the ball shifts to the other side, Atangana goes sideways, maintaining himself close to Zaïre-Emery (always tracking him by eye contact too), ready to cover a darting run into the half-space. The fullback is still worried about Lee (out of the image) and hasn’t moved much.
PSG then circle the ball back to the right side, Zaïre-Emery goes wide and now it is Vitinha who threatens to make a run into that space. Atangana immediately signals that to Nakamura (who can shadow cover a pass directly to Zaïre-Emery) and proceeds to hold his place to shield the half-space. His understanding to stop following one player and then shift his attention to another is what shines here.
Watch out below how he moves around from a central position to provide cover to a pressing defender and then returns to his standard place.
Recoveries
The way he reads the game sets him up to accumulate easier ball recoveries, disrupting offensive sequences and taking control of loose balls. He knows his strengths and relies on anticipation and smart positioning to cover space, rather than speed — we won’t see much of him covering large distances by going toe-for-toe with an attacker, as he prefers to drop back and wait for the right moment to engage. Besides that, he’s also really good at putting his body between the ball and his opponent, shielding it to keep possession or even draw some fouls. The way he uses his body in these kinds of scenarios translates to him being a really good duelist and it is essentially what enables him to impact games at just 19 yo, probably being one of the reasons Elsner feels comfortable starting him. Also, it empowers some of his on-ball actions too — stay tuned to find more.
Communication
Another detail that I really like about Atangana is how expressive he is on the field: we can see him constantly signaling stuff to his teammates, be it to tell them where to pass the ball, warn them about switches in a zonal marking system or simply point out potential runners so someone can track them. People really underestimate how much of a difference good communication can do in collective sports. Having captained France at U17 and U19 levels, he seems to be a natural leader — you can’t teach that.
Tackling
Aside from that, his tackles look super clean. He isn’t the most aggressive defender, but when he does engage, he tends to win the ball back. According to FBRef, he has attempted 17 tackles so far, winning 12 of them. When challenging a dribbler, he won 8 out of 11 duels, at a whopping 72.7% success rate. Furthermore, the amount of fouls he does concede (1.41 per 90) is fairly low for someone playing as a defensive midfielder in a team that averages around 45% of possession. At just 19 yo, physically he’s already more than holding his own, even if he doesn’t seem like the strongest player.
Aerial prowess
His volume of aerial duels also isn’t high (1.53 per 90), but I’ve seen enough to convince me that he can be an asset in the air too. Transfermarkt listed him at 1.76 meters tall, but his jumping reach is incredible — just check out this goal he scored for France at the last U19 EURO.
In a way, that is reminiscent of another diminutive midfielder turning heads in France: João Neves. Both of them are smaller than the average DM, but can easily impose themselves in aerial duels, even sending the ball back from where it came when targeted in goal kicks.
Offensive skills
Auxiliary build-up player: dropping deep
Stade Reims is set up in a way that Atangana’s main role during in-possession phases is to drop back between the two defenders to facilitate ball circulation by offering a safer passing line and spreading the CBs wide. Nothing fancy about it: he does his job well and knows when to drop to create numerical advantages.
Auxiliary build-up player: supportive runs
Sometimes, he also does a little supportive run (mostly decoy ones, as he isn’t the primary target of a CB’s pass here) to occupy the space behind the first line of pressure, dragging opponents and creating space somewhere else for his teammates to progress the ball up the pitch.
Passing range
He isn’t the most expansive passer and usually opts for the safest option there is, keeping possession and setting the tempo of the game until an opening can be found for someone to hit a more vertical pass. He’s also good at drawing pressure before releasing the ball with quick wall-bounce passes and a super reliable midfielder when it comes to not losing the ball in dangerous areas.
Carries
Right now, I feel like he can be more of a progressive carrier than a passer. Although a little limited by his role within the team, we’ve seen glimpses of what he can do carrying the ball forward (another skill that relates to his France’s exhibitions) and breaking lines with the ball glued to his feet. That is linked to his ability to protect the ball using his body and his overall agility/balance, rather than his top speed — the fact that he isn’t the quicker nor the long-legged type of player makes this even more impressive.
Press-resistant actions
Alongside those carries, the most defining trait of Atangana (in possession) is certainly his ability to evade pressure using his body to shield the ball, sharp turns of direction, shoulder drops and short dribbles, if necessary. Lots of players have tried to press him already this season… few were successful. To have that kind of courage and ability to do that regularly as a 19 yo playing as a defensive midfielder takes something special. Add that to his style of passing and we’ve got someone who can keep the ball and set the rhythm of the game at ease.
Attacking runs
Lastly, I wanted to touch on some attacking runs he makes. Again, it isn’t something very common because of his role, but he could also be developed into a box-crasher midfielder, if a manager really wanted to. Given the opportunity to do so, Atangana quickly recognizes and attacks space inside the opposition area with late runs into the box, targeting a defender’s blind side. His timing on that is great and he does got a good burst of speed as well to complement it.
Final thoughts
Valentin Atangana is a really versatile player that, given the right context, could be anything from a press-resistant, deeper midfielder to a line-breaker carrier to a late runner attacking midfielder. I personally feel like he would be best deployed as a hybrid between a 6 and an 8, taking responsibility to turn under pressure in the earlier phases of build-up, but also having the freedom to help initiate offensive sequences through his carries into space. Pair him up with a space-gobbling, transition-runner defensive midfielder and you would be set for success.
We certainly will be hearing his name in the coming years and I’m super excited to see how he performs until the end of the season. It wouldn’t surprise me if a bigger club came knocking as earlier as that, considering his press-resistance skills: that’s something worth millions of euros in today’s market.
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