He was born in Brussels in 2004 and grew up at Anderlecht and Lille, before Vitória Guimarães attracted him from their youth academy. This season he reached the first team, showcasing increasingly rare attributes in today’s football, which could make him a serious prospect in the future.
Scouting Report is an analysis section from ProScout, a company specializing in scouting and analysis, which each week will highlight a player from Portuguese or international football who is worth paying attention to.
Noah Saviolo, a vertical and agitator extreme
Age: 22 years old (07/03/2004)
Position: Left/Right Winger
Club: Vitoria Guimaraes
Preferred foot: Right
Country: Belgium/Portugal
Noah Saviolo has been one of the names to watch this season, not only for having earned his place in the Vitória Guimarães first team, but also for his debut in the under=21 national team.
The young winger was born in Brussels in 2004, represented Anderlecht and Lille in his youth, before arriving in Portugal in the 2022/2023 season to represent the under-19 team of the Minho club. After that, he completed two seasons in the reserve team and this year established himself in the main team with 31 games, two goals and five assists. He was called up by the under-21 coach, Luis Freire, in the last squad and played 63 minutes against Azerbaijan.
Strengths: technique, dribbling, speed, mobility, creativity
Saviolo is an irreverent, creative winger with the ability to unlock opposing defenses. A true disruptor due to his unpredictability and technical quality. The 22-year-old winger is right-footed, but prefers to play on the left, where he produces plays of great technical skill. He often looks for inside runs to cross or combine with teammates, but he can also go to the byline and cross with his left foot, making it difficult for opposing full-backs to limit his individual initiative.
On the right, he displays a more vertical profile, attacking the byline to cross, but in both positions he demonstrates the ability to accelerate the game with the ball in progression or attack spaces in depth. He also has quality in passing and vision, perceiving well the timing to release the ball to a better-positioned teammate or to risk a 1v1, to liven up the game and create dangerous situations in the final third.
Areas for improvement: decision-making, finishing, physical duels.
At 22 years old, he already demonstrates great competitive maturity, but he can still improve in some aspects of his game. His imbalances in the final third are constant, with the ability to confuse opposing full-backs with his zigzags, but he has a lot of room for improvement in decision-making and finishing near the opponent’s area. He easily gets past his opponents and into finishing zones, and with more precision in his actions, his offensive numbers would be even higher. The volume he creates through crosses and shots doesn’t match his statistics, so this is something he needs to improve in the coming seasons to better utilize his offensive quality.
In defense, he presses opponents well, reacting quickly to losing possession and regaining his position quickly, but he’s not very aggressive and is particularly strong in physical duels. The 1.81m winger can be more effective off the ball, particularly in how he recovers possession in the opposition’s half.
Potential
Saviolo is a creative winger who is making waves at Guimarães. One of the biggest promises of the Guimaraes team, he promises to shake up the summer transfer market, due to his performances and, above all, his potential. His recent call-up to the under-21 team is recognition of his excellent season and a way for the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) to try and retain a player who also holds Belgian nationality and who may be sought after by another national team.
The Portuguese=Belgian winger has a profile that is highly sought after these days, combining his technical quality with good physical capabilities, which means he could represent another excellent financial gain for Vitoria Guimaraes.