Hans Vanaken

Club Brugge KV · Midfielder · Belgium · 1,260 min

Ballity Verdict

What makes this player special?

Confidence · high

Hans Vanaken is the kind of midfielder coaches build possession around. At Club Brugge KV, his real value is not goals or highlight assists — it is how cleanly he moves the team from safe zones into dangerous ones, almost never giving the ball away cheaply. Ballity's clearest read is carrier: he controls games more than he decides them.

What separates Vanaken from ordinary specialists is breadth inside a coherent family: credible as carrier, and still trustworthy when asked to step toward deep-lying playmaker. That is versatility with a purpose — not a random scatter of average roles.

On the pitch he has actually been used as CM (#8) / DM (#6). That matters: skill-set breadth is one thing; demonstrated deployment is another. Vanaken's authenticity claim starts from those minutes, not from a role board alone.

The trade-off is real: chance_creation shows up as a structural caveat in the profile. Any club buying the upside has to decide whether that hole is tolerable in their system — or whether they will need complementary players beside him.

Why Ballity says this

  • Midfield / role totality: carrier, deep-lying playmaker
  • Shown minutes: CM (#8) / DM (#6)
  • Known caveat: chance_creation
Receipts
  • · Player Profile
  • · Role Breadth
  • · Deployment authenticity
  • · Sample · featured

Position

Midfielder

Appearances

14

Great+ roles

2

Age

33

Preferred foot

Both

Height

194 cm

Ballity insights

Peer context vs midfielders — how often they get the ball and what they do with it. Separate from role tiers above.

Usage rate

Share of team touches (non-GK) among midfielders with match data.

14.6% team touches

Peer band · Average

Pool percentile

53.6%

Also 76.1 touches/90 (season aggregate).

Efficiency

Output quality per action for midfielders.

66 score

Peer band · High

Pool percentile

76.5%

Press resistance 0.86Pass accuracy 88.3xA per key pass 0.08

Balance & structural weaknesses

How complete this player is on the position's job board — strengths and holes.

How we define this

Two-way = Great+ on ≥2 complementary axes. One-way = every other route Limited/closed. Weak routes = Average holes on complementary axes.

One-wayMidfielder

Strong as Chance Creation (Great), Ball Progressor (Great)

Weak routes

Physicality

Stat profile

Within position peers — percentile shape (not role scores).

Tempo 80Ball Progressor 70Carrying 69Clinical FinisherDirect PasserPress Resistant
Creation51
Ball Progressor70
Carrying69
Finishing21
Defending59
Duels67
Tempo80
Box threat14

Versatility Index

Precise 0–100 score — cross-group breadth (67%) plus within-group depth (33%), quality-scaled by tier. Distinct from the shape card below.

2 groups · 5 roles
40/ 100

Index

40.0

Breadth 23.5 · Depth 16.5

Fullbacks · GreatCentre-backsMidfielders · EliteWingersForwards
  • ·Fullbacks: Playmaking FB (Great)
  • ·Midfielders: Creator (Elite), Carrier (Great), Deep-Lying Playmaker (Great), Box-to-Box Midfielder (Great)

Versatility shape

Coarse directional pattern (Specialist / Dual-threat / Generalist) — not the 0–100 Index above.

Great

Dual-threat

Great Dual-threat
2

Distinct Great+

2 Great+ roles total

Where he plays

Positions with deployment evidence — not statistical guesses.

Natural

CMCMCarrier
DMDMDeep-Lying Playmaker

Role translations

Where the profile could fit. Tap a position — then see which role style suits it.

NaturalValidatedSupportedStrongPlausibleExploratory

Select a position on the pitch to see the best role, alternatives, and evidence.

Role-by-role detail

How each role is scored. Expand a row for a radar of role-shaped stats.

Similar players

Shape match across midfielder roles — cosine similarity of role scores (domestic leagues only). Slot 1 is the best same-league match; the rest are the next closest from the full pool.

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