Best Alternatives to Alan Varela

Playing Style Analysis

A Ball-Winner. Statistically, he stands out as meticulous in distribution (86% pass accuracy), penetrates with forward passing (8.1 final-third passes/90), heavily involved in play (58 touches/90) and active off the ball (2.4 press score/90), contributing to defensive transitions. The three closest DNA matches to Alan Varela:

• Manu Silva(88% match) — A Ball-Winner. Statistically, he stands out as a capable chance creator (1.3 key passes/90), an aggressive ball-winner (2.8 tackles/90), wins the physical battle (56% duel success), creates high-quality scoring opportunities (1.33 big chances/90), central to possession (77 touches/90), strong in aerial duels (3.5 aerials won/90) and switches play with precision (8.6 long balls/90, 66% accuracy).
• Afonso Assis Cunha Almeida(86% match) — A Metronome. Statistically, he stands out as reads the game exceptionally (1.7 interceptions/90), meticulous in distribution (86% pass accuracy), heavily involved in play (67 touches/90) and a high-intensity presser (press score 3.0/90), constantly disrupting opposition build-up.
• Morten Hjulmand(86% match) — Hjulmand is the kind of midfielder who wins football matches without ever appearing on a highlight reel—a defensive engine wrapped inside a genuine ball-progressor. Operating in Liga Portugal, he ranks in the top 5% for both duel win rate and press intensity, which tells you something important: this isn't selective aggression, it's sustained, systemic dominance across ninety minutes.

Similarity uses per-90 performance across playing-style dimensions. How Player DNA matching works →