Young Brits Abroad: Jonathan Panzo
Name: Jonathan Panzo
Current Club: Dijon
Age: 20
Position: Centre Back
Club Football
Panzo’s youth career was spent at Chelsea, but he made the move to Monaco in July 2018. He made his debut for the club in December 2018, when he played the full ninety minutes in a 1-0 win in the Coupe de la Ligue against Lorient.
Panzo spent the 2019/20 season on loan at Cercle Brugge in Belgium. Panzo made 17 league appearances for the Belgian side.
Panzo departed Monaco in August 2020, when he joined fellow French side, Dijon for an undisclosed fee. Panzo has gained valuable experience in a difficult season. He has made 17 league appearances so far this season, though it has been a disappointing one for Dijon, who find themselves at the bottom of Ligue 1.
International Career
Panzo, has played for England at under 16,17,18,19 and 21 level. In 2017, he was part of the England U17 team, who were runners up in the European Under 17 Championship.
He was then part of the team that won the Under 17 World Cup in 2017. He was named in the team of the tournament alongside fellow English players, Marc Guehi, Callum Hudson-Odoi, George McEachran, Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho.
Playing Style
Panzo is a left footed defender who plays as a centre back, but he has also played left back in his career. He has shown in Ligue 1 this season that he can read the game well, as he has averaged the fourth most interceptions in the league this season, with 2.6 interceptions per game.
He has also shown the ability of a modern defender to be a good passer of the ball. This season he has the highest pass completion in the Dijon team with 88.1%, which shows his ability to be able to play out from the back.
As well as his passing, Panzo has demonstrated he is comfortable moving with the ball, as he has attempted 8 dribbles this season, with them all being successful, again showing that he has some of the key skills to be a modern defender.
Defensively, he has also shown that he is comfortable when someone tries to dribble the ball past him. He has a success rate of 57.1% of dribblers tackled, with only one player in his Dijon squad, better than him in this area of the game. This suggests that Panzo is confident that if an attacker is attempting to carry the ball past him, that he feels he can win back possession for his side.
An area of improvement could be his decision making because he has given three penalties away this season, which is more than any of his teammates.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the summer with his side set for relegation. Panzo could be on the move again to another club.
