Piero Hincapie: Leverkusen’s rough diamond whose decision-making must improve
Liam Tharme
Jul 26, 2023
11
This summer, we are running a series profiling 50 exciting players under the age of 25 — who they are, how they play, and why they are attracting interest during this transfer window.
You can find all our profiles so far here, including “the Gen-Z Sergio Busquets”, the Canada striker determined to become a household name and the French midfielder who can do it all.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, is more than a century older than Piero Hincapie, but it describes him perfectly as a player.
Published in 1886, it tells of Dr Henry Jekyll, who has an evil, criminal alter-ego, Edward Hyde. Jekyll, uncontrollably and temporarily, transforms into Hyde and becomes violent.
With Hincapie, there is the technically proficient, experienced-beyond-his-youth side, but also an overcommitted, defensively rash side to his game.
There is the 21-year-old with 27 senior international caps, and already having played at a World Cup, a Copa America, and in the Champions League and Europa League. Yet there is the then-teenager who committed the error leading to Argentina’s second goal in the 84th minute of a 3-0 Copa America quarter-final defeat in which he would later be sent off. “Everything went wrong against them,” Hincapie said afterwards. He also clumsily conceded a penalty in a must-win group game against Senegal at the World Cup, too (Ecuador lost, 2-1, and were eliminated).
There is the positionally versatile left-footer, able to play centre-back in a three or a four, or operate at left-back or left wing-back. The player under 23 with the most minutes in the Europa League and/or Champions League last season (1,192), but also the man who received the most yellow (13) and red cards (three) in the 2022-23 Bundesliga.
Hincapie scored once (away to Eintracht Frankfurt in October) and assisted once (at home against Borussia Monchengladbach in May) in the German top flight last season, but ended up being sent off in both games having been at fault for goals conceded. Leverkusen did not win either match.
Hincapie signed a new contract at Leverkusen in February, which runs until summer 2027. Simon Rolfes, their managing director, retrospectively described his arrival at the club two years ago as an “investment in the future”, adding that “back then he was a talented central defender with really big potential” and “he became a key performer, he has shown his international quality”.
Leverkusen acquired him after one season at Argentina’s Talleres, who he had joined from Independiente del Valle in his native Ecuador — the club where Brighton’s in-demand midfielder Moises Caicedo also came through the youth ranks; they played together in the team that beat River Plate to win the Under-20 Copa Libertadores final in March 2020.
Miguel Angel Ramirez, who was head of Independiente’s academy when Hincapie was there, tells The Athletic that “what stood out most was his physicality”, adding that, “Piero is extremely quick, technically sound and tactically intelligent. It’s no surprise that he’s one of the most valuable centre-backs on the market. I think he is cut out to play for one of the biggest clubs.”
His debut Bundesliga campaign was in 2021-22, but Hincapie’s rise from first-team regular to guaranteed starter has much to do with his suitability under Xabi Alonso, who replaced Gerardo Seoane as Leverkusen manager last October. Hincapie has started in 33 of Alonso’s 37 games in all competitions — the ones he missed were all due to suspensions.
Alonso has described him as “a very modern defender. He can play in different positions. He’s aggressive, is making better decisions when he has the ball, backs himself more to play diagonal passes and get in behind”.
Leverkusen have been tactically and systematically flexible under Alonso but primarily play a high-possession 3-4-3 with a box midfield, which has seen Hincapie deployed in numerous roles and positions.
He played three different ones in Leverkusen’s four biggest home league wins last season (they finished sixth, having beaten four of the other eventual top seven at the BayArena, to qualify for the Europa League).
Hincapie was the left-back in a 4-3-3 in the 2-1 defeat of title-bound Bayern Munich in March:
Against RB Leipzig (2-0 in April) and Union Berlin (5-0 in November), he was the left centre-back in the typical 3-4-3, attempting the most passes (46 and 92 respectively) of any Leverkusen player in those matches.
He was at left wing-back in April’s 3-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, though played more defensively compared to Alonso’s wing-back on the other flank, Jeremie Frimpong:
Alonso matched up Roma’s 3-4-3 in the Europa League semi-finals in May, with Hincapie starting at left wing-back in the first leg in Italy and almost getting an assist inside the first minute.
Leverkusen break following a defensive-third regain, attacking down their right then switching play left. Moussa Diaby finds Hincapie high and wide:
One-v-one, he nutmegs Zeki Celik and crosses low for the late-running Robert Andrich, but he shoots straight at Rui Patricio.
Right centre-back Odilon Kossounou picked up an injury, so Mitchel Bakker came on at left wing-back late in the first half and Hincapie moved to left centre-back.
His first action there was to drive beyond the first line of pressure — one of Hincapie’s best attributes — and punch a pass successfully into midfield.
His assist for Amine Adli at home to Monchengladbach just over a week later is similar, stepping out and then playing a long vertical pass through midfield.
“It’s the position (centre-back) I feel most comfortable in,” Hincapie said in February 2022. “I can give order to my team-mates and that’s something I like. It gives me an outlet when it comes to playing the ball, much more than at full-back, always going back and forth.”
Hincapie’s positional versatility makes it complicated to compare him statistically to others.
First, because playing different roles changes his demands and opportunities, but also because positional benchmarks vary wildly: his per 90 minutes average of 1.9 progressive carries in 2022-23 ranked in the top three per cent of big-five leagues centre-backs, but was below the average for full-backs.
Hincapie needs to increase his end actions if his long-term future is to be as a ‘lateral’, rather than in central defence, but he has shown glimpses of final product with through balls and crosses from deep after dribbling to the edge of the final third.
Cristian Romero of Tottenham Hotspur was one of the statistical matches for Hincapie last season. They defend the same way: always front-foot, touch-tight and aggressive… and sometimes winning the ball.
The Bundesliga being so transitional exacerbates Hincapie’s defensive flaws, but when he does sit off opponents one-v-one, his body shape is detailed and considered — up on his toes (not flat-footed), carefully showing opponents one way and picking moments to attempt the tackle.
But all too often he gets on top of attackers and he makes contact often with his arms, frequently conceding fouls, allowing himself to be turned and, sometimes, compromising the team’s defensive shape.
The result: 40 fouls committed, fifth-most by any defender in the division last season and the most for a Leverkusen player. But he ranked top among his team-mates for tackles plus interceptions in all competitions (146 — 94 tackles, 52 interceptions), while impressively ranking second for midfield-third tackles (38).
Notably, someone Hincapie has cited as an idol is Sergio Ramos, the most yellow and red-carded player in Champions League (all-time) and La Liga history (since 1998-99, the point from which data is available).
Whereas Hincapie’s in-possession strengths suit him playing left centre-back, he defends much more like a wing-back, often making tackles high upfield.
Leverkusen’s 3-4-3 is often expansive and can expose centre-backs, requiring quick decisions to prevent or terminate counter-attacks and sometimes needing defenders to man-mark, Marcelo Bielsa-style. But Hincapie has a catalogue of fouls committed a long way infield or upfield, where he has tracked an opponent; they are not posing any danger, are facing their own goal, yet he clumsily fouls through the back of them.
And at times, this can leave exploitable holes in the Leverkusen back line.
The most significant example of Hincapie’s touch-tight approach ending badly was that red card in the Copa America quarter-finals two years ago.
Fair enough, he is stepping up to Lionel Messi, but with left-back Pervis Estupinan playing high too, he has made space for Angel Di Maria to run in behind.
Di Maria gets to the ball first, and Hincapie makes a valiant effort to recover…
…but pulls Di Maria back on the edge of the area.
It was similar to his second yellow card in Frankfurt last October.
The initial error is not his, and the system exposes him, but he ends up positioned too wide, allowing Daichi Kamada to play a through ball inside him to Randal Kolo Muani, who is positioned in Hincapie’s blind spot.
He puts in another big recovery sprint, but the tackle is late and he concedes a penalty.
Hincapie (6ft, 183cm) is not a tall defender (Virgil van Dijk, who is 6ft 5in, towers over him in the screengrab from the World Cup below), although the 5ft 9in Lisandro Martinez dispelled that as an essential characteristic after joining Manchester United last summer. But it might explain his tendency to be aggressive and physical, being without the size advantage most centre-backs benefit from.
His aerial win rate (53.9 per cent) in all competitions last season was worse than those of Leverkusen’s other centre-backs: Edmond Tapsoba (6ft 4in; 57.9 per cent), Kossounou (6ft 3in; 58 per cent) and Jonathan Tah (6ft 5in; 59 per cent). Combined, those three collected 20 yellow cards in all competitions (just two more than Hincapie collected on his own) and were never sent off.
Since the start of June 2021, Hincapie has played in 103 matches and started 93 for club and country. He has earned a fast-tracked route to the top of domestic and international football — “everything has happened so quickly. All my expectations have already been exceeded”, he said last year — but stability is needed now to refine his craft.
He called Leverkusen “exactly the right club” when he signed that contract extension in the middle of last season, and is central to this young, promising generation of Ecuadorian football.
But he needs to be more Hincapie and less Hyde.
https://theathletic.com/4700142/2023/07/26/piero-hincapie-50-to-watch/
