Fiorentina will remember the previous season for all the wrong reasons. They finished 16th in Serie A, three points away from the relegation zone. Perhaps to avoid another such season, Pantaleo Corvino pulled off a transfer masterclass. He brought in Erick Pulgar and Frank Ribéry, two signings that will make an immediate impact. One of the signings that went under the radar was Aleksa Terzić. Terzić is a young left-back who was purchased for 1.5 Million from the Serbian leagues. This tactical analysis scout report will showcase the major tactics of Terzić.
History
Aleksa Terzić started his career as a left-winger during his time at FK Crvena Zvezda. He was considered a massive talent a few years ago. A few big clubs, including Juventus, were reportedly interested. However, while playing for the Zvezda youth and feeder teams, he failed to make any significant improvement. His development stagnated and he no longer has the hype that surrounded him a few years ago.
Terzić has now been converted into a left-back, however he does have the ability to play on the right. Fiorentina were rather emboldened by their successful history in getting players from the Serbian leagues. Some of these players include Nikola Milenković, Stevan Jovetić and Adem Ljajić. The Violet team will be hoping that Terzić could become as good a gamble as the other players.
Natural Offensive Talent
Despite Terzic’s development stagnating over the past few seasons, remnants of his incredible talent remain. As a converted winger, he has all the usual skills that wingers possess. He’s exceptionally quick and good on the ball. What sets him out, though, is his ability to put the ball into the box, both from open play and set pieces. He’s already a volume crosser and he’s only going to improve while playing with Franck Ribery.
In the game against Denmark U-21’s, he put in twice as many crosses as any other team-mate.
His ability to beat his defender and put crosses into the box is his best trait. This, when combined with his quick feet, makes him a deadly offensive weapon to have.
Another unique skill that Aleksa Terzic has added to his game is long-throws. The Serbian youth teams and Graficar have extensively tried to use his long throwing ability to their advantage.
Despite his abundant natural talent and flair, there is still some major work to do on his decision making. Terzić finds himself regularly in threatening positions, however he doesn’t always make the right decisions.
In this instance, Terzić (white) receives the ball in his half and makes a strong surge towards the opponents half. His central midfielder (yellow) is free in the centre of the pitch.
However, instead of passing the ball to the free player, Terzic tries to take on his man. Unfortunately, Denmark U-21 have a 2v2 on the wing and are able to snuff the attack out. These are instances where we can see that Terzić’s decision making isn’t great yet.
At the moment, Terzić makes up for his weaker decision making with his physical attributes. However, as he continues to grow, we can expect him to improve in this aspect of the game.
Work in progress defensively
Despite his raw athletic ability, Terzić has a few glaring issues in his game. These issues are primarily on the defensive side of the ball. He is often caught in two minds and this indecision leads to his team conceding goals.
In his last game for Serbia U-21, he found himself in a 2v1 situation and did not commit to either player.
The end result is that he allows the first player to play the pass and also leaves the attacker (yellow) in a large amount of space, which leads to Serbia U-21 conceding their first goal against Denmark U-21.
Apart from his indecisiveness, Terzic also suffers from occasional lapses of concentration. One such instance was in the game against Arsenal in the International Champions Cup. Fiorentina had lost the ball and Arsenal were on the counter-attack.
Terzic was in a good position ahead of the Arsenal attacker and it looked like Fiorentina would be able to snuff this attack.
However, the ball is played in behind Terzic and he reacts late. This meant that the Arsenal forward had a lot of space in front of him. This defensive lapse of concentration could potentially have hurt Fiorentina.
Terzic is a converted winger, and it’s understandable why he struggles defensively. His tackling leaves a lot to be desired and his positioning isn’t great either. Hopefully, playing with Nikola Milenkovic as his centre-back could improve his positioning sense. Additionally, he is still a little underdeveloped physically, and that should improve over the upcoming season.
How Aleksa Terzić fits at Fiorentina
Aleksa Terzić has received most of the pre-season minutes for Fiorentina so far. He even started the recently concluded Coppa Italia match. Against Monza in the Coppa Italia, Fiorentina conceded against a cross from Terzić’s area and he was nowhere to be seen.
While Terzić is not at the level of the other Fiorentina players like Cristiano Biraghi and Pol Lirola, he could be a versatile back-up to both the left-back and right-back positions. There are concerns about Biraghi’s imminent departure and if that doesn’t happen this season, it will happen next season. That would allow Terzić to receive more game time.
There are also concerns about pairing him with a similarly offensive-minded full-back on the other flank (Lirola) so Aleksa Terzić must work on the defensive side of his game to be able to make any significant contribution to Fiorentina this season.
Conclusion
As this tactical analysis scout report has shown, Aleksa Terzić isn’t a player who will make an impact for Fiorentina straight away. He is a long way off displacing the backup left-back in David Hancko, let alone Biraghi.
However, he is full of promise and we expect him to quickly integrate himself into the Fiorentina team and hopefully be a great long-term asset for the club.
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