Top Prospects: Scottish Premiership (Part Two)

Who's catching the eye in the Scottish Prem?

For the second instalment in our miniseries on exciting young talent in the Scottish Premiership, we’re moving across the capital, from Lewis Miller at Hibs to Alex Cochrane at Hearts. Cochrane is an English left wing-back or left midfielder, depending on how you see things. Either way, he generally plays as the widest-left player in Hearts’ 3-5-2 system. A product of the Brighton academy, Cochrane spent the 21/22 season on loan at Hearts before making the switch permanent for the following season.

What caught my eye about Cochrane is that he’s a bit of an all-rounder. There are certain areas in which he’s contributing at an elite level by Scottish Premiership standards, but even in areas where he’s not truly excellent, he’s making himself useful fairly consistently. Let’s have a closer look.

Data from FotMob

We can learn a lot from the broad set of metrics presented above. As a reminder on these types of “radar” charts, the more a player “fills” the radar, the stronger, and more well-rounded, his performance. Cochrane’s profile is quite interesting.

Strengths

First, we can see that Cochrane is in the 92nd percentile for “expected assists” for players in similar positions in the Scottish top flight. This means that he’s generating an excellent volume of scoring chances for his teammates, whether or not they happen to convert those chances into goals.

This finding is backed up by the fact that his performance is also very strong on chances created, successful crosses, and to a somewhat lesser degree, cross accuracy. All in all, it’s clear that Cochrane creates high-quality chances for his teammates through his ability to put in dangerous crosses – using either foot – either from his typical position on the left, or from set pieces.

Cochrane has three assists so far this season – all for Hearts’ talismanic striker Lawrence Shankland – and you can see the quality of his crosses in the video below (skip to 25 seconds in), here, or here.

Chance creation is Cochrane’s best attribute, the data suggest, but that’s not all he’s about. As shown above, he’s also a very willing defender, performing around the 80th percentile both for tackles won and duels won. He also wins a lot of fouls, and is at least an average performer in terms of getting winning recoveries of the ball.

Limitations

In terms of his limitations – and most players in the Scottish Premiership have limitations, else they wouldn’t be there – a couple stand out in particular. First, his chance creation skills notwithstanding, Cochrane’s pass accuracy numbers are poor (29th percentile).

He’s also not a threat as a dribbler, meaning he’s unlikely to beat his man on the left flank and get his team up the pitch that way. Instead, more patient buildup is usually necessary so that Cochrane can get those dangerous crosses in.

Finally, whilst it might be unfair to cite someone’s age as limitation, Cochrane turns 24 soon, which might reduce his value compared to a player producing the same output as a 21- or 22-year old.

Estimated Value, Contract Situation, Possible Moves

Speaking of, Cochrane currently has a market value of €1.0M, per Transfermarkt, who claim that his contract runs through season 24/25. Given that he’s into the last 18 months of his contract, Cochrane could be available for a fee in the range of €2.5-3.0M.

As shown below, Hearts are one of the more possession-heavy teams in the league, which I believe suits Cochrane’s strengths and mitigates his limitations. If he were to move elsewhere, it’s likely he’d be most effective in another team that tends to have most of the ball.

Courtesy Opta Analyst

Given his style of play and his well-rounded game, Cochrane could conceivably be a rotational option for either Rangers or Celtic, where he’d have even more opportunities to create chances, and would probably have fewer defensive responsibilities. He might also appeal to a middling Championship side looking to get a bit younger at the position, improve the quality of delivery from the left, and add a player who can be useful from set pieces, all without creating a liability in defence. Clubs like West Brom, Coventry, or Preston make a bit of sense on paper.

So, that’s Alex Cochrane: very dangerous in attack, and a solid all-round performer likely best suited to a fairly possession-heavy team. We’ve still got one more exciting Scottish Premiership prospect to profile, so if you’re enjoying this series, please consider subscribing to get more content like this straight to your inbox.