What is Miguel Layún's best flank on the pitch?

In view of the goal-scoring tally Miguel Layún had with Porto departing from the left towards his natural and strong right foot against Maccabi Tel Aviv and Vitoria Setubal, all talk about putting him back to the right flank seemed nonsense. Having him playing inverted, the argument says, adds an important offensive threat by enabling Layun to cut inside and try from long range or even reach goal-line, check back, and cross immediately: the Porto experience was doubtlessly demonstrating so.

Let us recall Layún's conversion from average right winger towards outstanding left wing-back for Club América. After a short-lived journey in Serie A with Atalanta, he returned to Mexico and endured personal tough times when people tweeted constantly #TodoesculpadeLayún (#BlameitallonLayun), until the arrival of Miguel Herrera. Herrera had brought solid Adrián Aldrete to play left wing-back for main league competition while handing to Layún the Copa Mx minutes. Playing the cup, Layún managed to score screamers outside the box departing from the left and also learned slowly to use his left foot to launch more or less acceptable crosses. By the summer of 2013, Layún had claimed for himself Aldrete's starting spot and begun his assault on the national team for the World Cup.

Layún's offensive contribution from the left in Brazil 2014 was nonetheless poor. His military discipline and endless energy helped Mexico to remain compact and cohesive versus top opposition at the biggest stage, but it was all about defending. A good explanation of the rise of Layún is that he was in fact part of a global trend of inverted wingers and inverted full-backs. Attacking wingers drifting inside not only enabled them to find space and reach for target with their strong natural foot, it also enabled the full-backs to make overlapping runs and add unpredictability, penetration and width (a classic example of this was pre-Guardiola Bayern Munich: Robben would cut towards his left foot from the right flank while Lahm would surge and cross with his natural right foot). Hence, a tactical development to counter inverted attacking wingers was to place inverted full-backs as well, able to deal with dribblers with their strong foot (Spanish right-footed full-back César Azpilicueta claiming Ashley Cole's starting spot on the left for Chelsea remains a great antecedent for this Layún-esque development). In this light, the deployment of Layún on the left flank of the full-back spot was always a defensive resource against stronger sides which sometimes -and only sometimes- went offensive against weaker ones.

It took the challenge of an old-school right-footed winger to test Layún's defending on the left for Champions League level. Dynamo Kyiv's victory in Do Dragão was as much about undoing Porto in the middle as about exposing full-backs Maxi Pereira and Layún in the channels. While Pereira dealt with Paraguayan inverted winger Derlis González, the Mexican man dealt with Ukrainian Andriy Yarmolenko. Barring the penalty kick that Yarmolenko himself scored, his continuous runs towards goal-line on his right foot produced the best chances in the first half that made the away side fully deserving of their lead. Layún was powerless.

For the second half, the Porto boss Julen Lopetegui took Pereira (number 2) off, moved Layún (number 21 encircled in yellow) to the right, and placed central defender Bruno Martins Indi (number 3) to the left full-back spot in order to deal with Yarmolenko. Lopetegui's improvisation did not work either since Derlis González found even more space between Danilo and Layún to increase Dynamo's lead to 2-0 (graphic taken from UEFA's full-time tactical lineups).

What is thus Miguel Layún's best flank on the pitch? He has proven such a versatile, functional and fast-learning footballer that the actual answer is: it depends. It depends on whether his team plays with possession or plays at the counterattack, on whether he should overlap upfront or should stay tight at the back, whether he faces inverted wingers or natural ones. Noteworthy is also the fact that Layún himself playing for Watford was placed advanced on the field by Quique Sánchez-Flores in the inverted winger spot; there, Layún cut inside while left natural full-back José Holebas overlapped. The goal he scored against Everton at Goodison Park in the first match of the Premier League demonstrated so: it added an offensive threat without compromising defensive cohesion.

Layún is truly a man for all seasons. Not only does his football accept questions of left or right, but also questions of defense and attack, width and depth.