Arnold Bruggink is not impressed by Caio Henrique. The 29-year-old left-back started for Ajax against sc Heerenveen on Sunday afternoon, but failed to convince the ESPN analyst.
After the 2-2 draw, the analysis focused on a big chance missed by Kasper Dolberg. The Dane turned a good cross from Oscar Gloukh over from close range.
Rather than focusing on Dolberg's miss, Bruggink points to Henrique's run as Gloukh looks to deliver the cross. "Henrique comes past on the inside," Bruggink notes. "And he actually gets in his way as well. Either he has to come on the outside, but never on the inside."
More broadly, Bruggink is not impressed by Henrique either. "He has disappointed me. There is no pace in him and there is no energy in him. So if I were an opponent looking at Ajax, that is where you would target them."
"If you have speed and tempo in your team, and a full-back who can overlap a lot... He (Henrique, ed.) struggles with that tempo."
That is why Bruggink feels Owen Wijndal might be a better fit at left-back in that respect. "Owen Wijndal has of course been something of a scapegoat in this stadium. But what he does bring is that he always has that energy in his game at the very least."
"Quite apart from whether he is good enough in terms of quality for Ajax, he can at least cover the distances and provide tempo. That is what he can do, and Ajax are missing that right now, in my view," the analyst concludes.