Name: Cheikhou Kouyaté




Country: Senegal
Club: Crystal Palace F.C.
Position: *DMF, CB, CMF
Side: RF/BS
Age: 29-33 years (21/12/1989)

Height: 189 cm
Weight: 83 kg


Attack: 69
Defence: 82
Balance: 87
Stamina: 87
Top Speed: 79
Acceleration: 73
Response: 83
Agility: 74
Dribble Accuracy: 69
Dribble Speed: 71
Short Pass Accuracy: 73
Short Pass Speed: 73
Long Pass Accuracy: 75
Long Pass Speed: 73
Shot Accuracy: 63
Shot Power: 78
Shot Technique: 65
Free Kick Accuracy: 58
Curling: 59
Header: 81
Jump: 84
Technique: 74
Aggression: 72
Mentality: 82
Goalkeeper Skills: 50
Team Work: 73

Injury Tolerance: B
Condition: 5
Weak Foot Accuracy: 5
Weak Foot Frequency: 5
Consistency: 5
Growth type: Late/Peak

CARDS:
P02 - Anchor Man
S07 - Man Marking
S09 - Covering

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Marking - Covering

Attack/Defence Awareness Card: Defence Minded


INFO:
Kouyaté is a defensive midfielder or centre-back who can also play as central midfielder. He started his career in Belgium where he played for RWDM Brussels and Kortrijk between 2007 and 2009. He then signed for Anderlecht where he played 206 games between 2009 and 2014, scoring 6 goals. He transferred to England, playing for West Ham between 2014 and 2018, scoring 15 goals in 147 matches, and Crystal Palace between 2018 and 2022, making 141 appearances and scoring 3 times. His last club was Nottingham Forest where he played between 2022 and 2024. He capped for Senegal 92 times, scoring 4 goals and winning the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations.
Kouyaté was a mainly defensive player who could rely on a tall and strong physique to challenge his opponents. He would push forward on occasion to add presence to the attack due to his frame, especially in the opposition's area during set pieces. As a midfielder, his style of play was simple and consisted of controlling the midfield, breaking up attacks, recovering the ball and quickly distributing it with short easy passes, given that he wasn't particularly skilled from a technical perspective. He constantly covered a lot of ground for the entire length of his game. His ball distribution wasn't always good, and he didn't resort often to long passes forward. On the other hand, he possessed solid pace for a man of his size. As a defender, Kouyaté seemed more active, showing notable positional sense, anticipation, persistent marking ability, excellent jump to win high balls, and altruism in covering the sides whenever it was left uncovered.