Scouting report: Charalampos Kostoulas
In today’s article, we’ll be taking a closer look at Charalampos Kostoulas, one of Brighton’s recent summer signings.
This summer, Brighton secured one of the brightest young talents available, Charalampos Kostoulas. The Seagulls paid a significant fee to prise him away from Olympiacos, and expectations for the 17-year-old are already high.
Let’s see what are his strengths and his style of play:
Full name: Charalampos Kostoulas
Country: Greece
Date of birth: 30/05/2007 (18 years old)
Place of birth: Athens, Greece
Height: 1.85m
Youth career: AS Agia Anna, Olympiacos (since 2019)
Position: second striker, centre-forward
Preferred foot: right
Kostoulas is a product of the Olympiacos academy. In his early years, he played as a centre-forward, but last season he proved he can operate in a variety of roles. His main position was just behind the striker, functioning as a second forward with a primary responsibility in pressing. At times, he led the line on his own, while in other matches he was deployed on either flank of the attack.
Excellent athlete
The young forward engages in an impressive number of duels per 90 minutes (24.2) — he’s a real powerhouse. Admittedly, the numbers are slightly inflated as he averages just 55 minutes per game, but that doesn’t change the reality: consistently contesting that many duels and winning at least half of them highlights his athletic excellence. His upper-body strength, physical presence, and agility make him a tough opponent to handle, while it’s worth noting that he’s also surprisingly quick for a centre-forward.
Olympiacos is a team built around pressing. Last season, many of their goals came directly from this approach. When Olympiacos players won the ball through pressing or counter-pressing, the objective was to create a scoring opportunity within the first 5 to 10 seconds of the attack. However, lacking a creative presence on the flanks or in midfield, the Greek champions struggled against low-block defenses. In this system, Kostoulas stood out.
As I mentioned earlier, he is quite athletic, has a tremendously well-built body, and has excellent spatial awareness.
Positioning and off the ball movement
The ability to anticipate where the ball will go and when an opponent will slip up is a valuable skill. The Greek striker appears to have a high tactical IQ, showing potential to dominate the penalty area through smart positioning and by capitalizing on defenders’ mistakes.
Serious box threat
Kostoulas has all the qualities to become a box dominant striker. He is an above average athlete, has good finishing, his movements off the ball are excellent and he thrives in aerial duels.
Link up play
We’ve looked at what he does inside the box, but his movement outside of it is just as intriguing. From a young age, he’s shown a natural aptitude for link-up play — dropping deep to combine with teammates — though we haven’t seen it in full effect due to Olympiacos’ playing style. Technically sound, he also shows plenty of room to grow as a dribbler. His pace allows him to drift wide and carry the ball forward with ease, while he’s also capable of shielding possession effectively with his back to goal.
What he needs to work on
I’ve already mentioned that he has plenty of room to improve his dribbling, and I stand by that. He’s a player with footballing bravery, decent pace, athleticism, and good technique — the kind of profile that can develop significantly over the next few years. We often see young forwards who are still raw in the early stages of their career gradually refine parts of their game. A good example is Ioannidis, who, when he first joined Panathinaikos, looked clumsy and lacking in finesse. Kostoulas, still at a very young age, has plenty of scope to work on this area and possesses the tools to do so.
Other areas for improvement include his creativity. If he continues to play behind the striker, he’ll need to become more inventive in the final third. As a pure centre-forward, this isn’t an issue, but in a more creative side, he would naturally see more of the ball than he does in Mendilibar’s Olympiacos. There’s also still room for him to further develop his physical strength.
Built for the next level
Kostoulas is a player blessed with plenty of natural gifts. What sets him apart in his relatively short career so far is the hard work he’s put in. His work rate is impressive, especially for a Greek player. Football has now entered an era where athletic players stand out, especially those who excel when their team doesn’t have possession. If he continues progressing at this rate, his ceiling will be limitless.