Who is Million Manhoef? Rangers-linked transfer target profiled

Who is the Dutch winger, what would he bring to Ibrox and how likely is a move?

We asked Dutch football expert Melvin Dupper to find out more…

Who is Manhoef?

Million Manhoef was born on 3 January 2002 in Beemster, the Amsterdam region. Manhoef started his football career at the age of four at his local football club VPV Purmersteijn. However, football was not his only sport at that time. Before playing football, the youngster started kickboxing. As the son of kickboxing and MMA legend Melvin Manhoef, he turned out to be quite talented. Manhoef fought matches and even became the Dutch champion in his age group. However, when he entered the youth training programme of Vitesse at the age of 14, the two sports proved to be incompatible. He quit kickboxing and started focusing entirely on football. On 26 September 2020, Manhoef made his professional debut in an away tie with Ajax. Since he’s played 83 matches for Vitesse and scored 26 goals. He also represented the Dutch national team at Under-16 and 17 level. Currently, he’s a regular for the Under-21 side - having played seven times and scored three goals.

This season, Manhoef has been a standout for a mediocre Vitesse, scoring four goals in 15 matches, With the threat of relegation and financial problems looming it seems as though the club are willing to part with their most valuable player in a cut-price deal. Crisis at Vitesse presents opportunity for others.

What type of player is he?

Manhoef is 179cm tall (5ft 10.5) and weighs around 71kg. He is quite petite in build accompanied by a strong upper body and broad shoulders. A low centre of gravity allows him to turn very easily and change direction at high speed quite easily. With decent speed at both long and short range, Manhoef possesses very high acceleration ability. He also knows how to maintain this pace well on the ball and can keep it up for an entire match. The winger is highly reliant on his left foot and rarely uses his right.

Manhoef has suffered two injuries in his short career so far, both to his knees, but he hasn’t missed a chunk of games due to injury since the end of 2021.

In recent seasons, Manhoef has played a variety of positions in various formations operating as a striker or as a left wing-back. However, in recent months he’s begun to excel on the right in a 4-2-3-1 formation - it’s on this side he appears most effective even if Manhoef offers flexibility to play from the left. Here’s a summary of his attributes: 

- A quick, agile player

- Plays with confidence at a fast pace.

- Likes to look for one-v-ons, he often waits for the opponent's defensive action to determine his moment of acceleration

- Almost always moves the ball to his left side

- Looks often for killer passes

- Likes attempts from distance

- Defensively active and also possesses the stamina to play for a high-pressing team

- Uses a strong upper body to stay in possession of the ball and ride tackles

- Very one-footed which can make him predictable

- However, his explosiveness makes Manhoef difficult to defend

What does the data say?

To gain a comparison of Manhoef's performance against other wingers and attacking midfielders in similar leagues, two radars are attached. Because Vitesse’s performances have deteriorated so drastically this season, the 22/23 season is attached alongside the current 23/24 campaign. Let’s start with the former… 

What is this telling me?

Manhoef provided an extremely good goalthreat last season. He loves a shot and that’s reflected in these stats. With 3.1 shots per 90/minute, Manhoef is among the most shot-prone players in his position. However, attempts are of a rather low quality (0.08 xG per shot). Why? Manhoef likes to shoot from a distance and these shots naturally have the lowest xG value. Still, with nine goals, the attacker ranked among the top in terms of non-penalty goals.

This can all be seen in more detail looking at his shot map from the 22/23 season below - 43 out of 97 shots came from outside the box. 37% were on target and none resulted in a goal. Not the most effective of approaches…

What about the current season?

What is this telling me?

There’s some differences and similarities to last season in Manhoef's current radar. For instance, Manhoef still shoots with a very low xG/shot. However, the winger continues to score above-average goals, although this is now a fraction lower than last season. A high number of turnovers per 90 minutes seems to be a problem, although playing for a team low in the table this is expected. This season, Manhoef has yet to have an assist to his name despite creating 0.16 xA per 90 minutes. The biggest positive change is in his even higher number of successful dribbles and shots created. Increasingly, Manhoef's qualities have been relied upon by his team.

What are his best qualities?

Dribbling

Manhoef is capable of keeping multiple defenders busy with his technique and agility. He keeps the ball close and can drive past defenders due to his explosiveness. While helping him in one-on-one situations this also aids Manhoef in transition. Based on number of dribbles per 90 minutes and percentage of successful dribbles, he is among the top players in Europe this season. Not bad when playing for a relegation candidate, right?

Final third vision

Because of his strength when dribbling, Manhoef often ends up around the opponent’s box. It’s here he can show off his vision in the final third which is another clear strength. Manhoef plays with his head up and sees the movement of fellow players, knowing when to find them or complete the action himself. He works well with players who run beyond from deep, as we can see in the below example.

After receiving the ball on his favoured right side, the winger cuts inside onto his left foot.

As an opposition centre-back steps in, Manhoef dribbles beyond him, noticing a deep run beyond from his teammate.

The winger finds his teammate with a clever pass that creates a clear goalscoring opportunity.

What areas could he improve?

The weaker foot

Manhoef is pretty one-footed which can make him predictable in some instances. The winger can often get away with this due to his explosive nature. He sometimes needs to take the outside option to vary his play. This variety will also increase his ability to cut inside, as he favours. You can see in his progressive map below how rare it is for the winger to look down the line either by passing or carrying the ball.

The same can be said about the diversity of his shooting. It makes sense he favours his strongest left foot but in some cases, his output can become unbalanced.

Turnovers

Few lose the ball in the Eredevise like Manhoef. Part of this is of course because of the volume of his actions. In general, more dribbles result in more turnovers. However, this isn’t his biggest area of development. Instead, Manhoef needs to learn the line between trying to create and trying to retain the ball. Manhoef is often looking for the killer pass. Sometimes he succeeds, creating a scoring opportunity. But far too often this fails when there is an easier solution. Especially if he moves to play for a dominant team, a more conservative style of play in moments is important.

Million Manhoef is a very promising winger. His one-on-one ability and pace constantly troubles opponents and this can be a decisive feature in matches.

There are areas of his came which can improve. A greater level of variety will protect his favoured routes to goals and he must learn when to keep play ticking instead of risking the killer pass. If a move to Ibrox were to materialise, he’d need to adapt his style to a higher-possession team.

A deal within the rumoured £2.5million region would be the very definition of a steal. Although there are still raw elements to his game, Manhoef has all the qualities to be a top winger.