What to Expect From Adrian Marin

Orlando City has once again made use of the summer transfer window to strengthen its team in preparation for the end of the season. The Lions announced the signing of Spanish left back Adrian Marin on Thursday morning, making him the second reinforcement for the left side of the field after winger Tyrese Spicer was signed one week ago. The big question now is what we should expect from Marin once we see him on the field in an Orlando City jersey.

Stats and Scouting Report

Let’s start with his most recent season at Braga in the Portuguese top flight, and look at offensive stats. Marin played 10 league games (8 starts) and totaled 711 minutes, while playing four games in the Europa League (2 starts) and amassing 174 minutes. He contributed two assists in the league and didn’t take any shots, while taking one crack at goal in the Europa League without putting it on target. He attempted 576 passes in the league and completed 80.6% of them, while attempting 130 in continental competition and completing 73% of them. Digging deeper into the passing, he completed 13 crosses in the league and 5 in the Europa League, and delivered 58 progressive passes in the league and seven in the cup competition. He had six progressive carries in the league and one in Europe, and he averaged 2.03 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes in the league and 1.4 in Europe.

Moving to defensive stats, Marin logged 18 league tackles and six in Europa League, nine league blocks and five in the cup, 13 league interceptions, and finally 29 league clearances, with seven in continental competition.

Now that’s quite a lot of numbers to digest, but fortunately I’ve brought a visual aid. Let’s look at his broad scouting report from Fbref.com, which was the site I referenced for all the stats listed above. This report compares him to other left backs from the 14 strongest competitions outside of the Big 5 leagues and UEFA Champions League over the last 365 days, and all stats are per 90 minutes.

You can see that there’s a healthy amount of green here, and that’s good. The more green in these reports the better. On offense, he scores particularly well in assists, attempted passes, and progressive passes, while also being in a good percentile for pass completion percentage. On the other hand, he’s not likely to offer a lot of goal-scoring threat and probably isn’t going to be driving forward a ton with the ball and getting into the penalty area.

On the defensive side of the ball, he scores very well on interceptions, is in a good percentile for aerials won and clearances, and is above average on tackles, while being just about average on blocks.

On the whole, that scouting report paints a picture of a guy who takes care of the ball, is a solid defensive presence, and will pop up with an assist or two on occasion. That all sounds pretty good, but there are a few caveats that we need to keep in mind.

It’s important to note that the above report only takes his league stats into consideration, and he only played 711 minutes in the Primeira Liga. That isn’t the biggest sample size, so it’s impossible to say if those trends would have borne out over a bigger sample size of games/minutes.

While we don’t know the reason behind that lack of minutes, it’s worth keeping that dearth of playing time in mind too. He was playing consistently at the beginning of last season and started or subbed on in the bulk of Braga’s games from August to October, but after 61 minutes against Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League on Oct. 23, his playing time dried up abruptly. He was consistently making the bench but didn’t make another appearance until subbing on at halftime against Roma on Dec. 12. He then started a league win against Benfica on Jan. 4 and domestic cup game against the same team on Jan. 8, but they were the last starts he made for the team. He had second-half stoppage time cameos on Jan. 19 and Jan. 30, and those were the last appearances he made for the team. He doesn’t seem to have been injured, as he was consistently dressing for games but not getting off the bench.

Again, we don’t know why Braga manager Carlos Carvalhal began to go a different direction with his lineup selections, but the small sample size and potential reasons for it are worth keeping in mind.

Projecting a Fit in Orlando

First, let’s discuss what we know about Orlando’s left back and center back situations, as Marin primarily plays left back but is able to play some center back as well. Interestingly enough, that makes him the inverse of incumbent left back David Brekalo, who is a center back by trade but has been the starting left back for a majority of the Lions’ season. Rodrigo Schlegel has been starting at center back, while Rafael Santos seems to have lost Oscar Pareja’s trust. In league play since the 2-1 win over the LA Galaxy on March 30, Santos has made one start against CF Montreal on July 19. Outside of that, he’s been limited to 10 substitute appearances for a total of 176 minutes.

Brekalo has been a competent left back during his time as the starter, but he doesn’t offer a ton going forward, and he’s also right footed. That makes instances where he does get forward more predictable, as he’s usually going to try to cut onto his right foot before playing a cross or a pass. Marin is left footed, meaning he’ll be better suited to trying to beat a defender down the line and stretch the field, giving the Lions more width and verticality in the process.

It’s anyone’s guess as to what Pareja’s plans are for Marin, but it’s not hard to see a world where he’s given an opportunity to win the starting job at left back, while Schlegel and Brekalo fight it out for the right to partner Robin Jansson in the middle. Marin probably wouldn’t get forward to the degree that Alex Freeman does, but he’d be a more natural and versatile fit on the left at doing so when the opportunities arise. If Orlando can have a lineup where both fullbacks are threats to get forward and make things happen in the attacking third, then the team is much more dangerous. Right now, Freeman is almost always the one getting into the attack while Brekalo tucks inside to form a back three. Of course, Papi could simply decide to stick with Brekalo as the starter, in which case Marin’s ability to play two different positions means he can rotate in and fill gaps where needed.

It’s worth noting that his contract runs through the end of 2026 and has an option year for 2027, so he doesn’t project as a guy that the front office is simply taking a flier on until the end of the season — there seems to be some level of expectation that he’s going to be a contributor to this team. Whether that’s as a starter or a rotational player/substitute is impossible to say at this point, but he should bring some added strength and flexibility to a position that Orlando has had a little trouble getting consistent offensive and defensive quality from since the departure of Joao Moutinho.

Like any player, Marin has his strengths and weaknesses. He projects as a good passer of the ball and a solid defender, and he is capable of chipping in some assists, but the Spaniard isn’t likely to offer the goals that Alex Freeman has this year. At best, he wins the starting left back job and is a more natural fit with his left-footedness — allowing the Lions to stretch the field while providing the offensive support on the left side of the field that this team hasn’t consistently had this season. At worst, his versatility gives Oscar Pareja more depth at two positions in sore need of it, while also offering competition to the incumbent starters. All we can do now is wait and see how things play out. Vamos Orlando!