So far Fleming has earned 96 caps for Canada since her debut and she has scored 14 goals. At the age of 23, she has played two World Cups and two Olympic tournaments, the latter of which is where she has picked up a bronze medal in 2016 in Rio, and then going on to play a huge part in Canada’s success during the summer of 2021 in Tokyo, winning the gold medal.
Fleming joined her current club, Chelsea FC ahead of the 2020/21 season and she joined the London club after playing college football at the UCLA Bruins where she also picked up a degree in engineering.
Since joining Chelsea, she has managed to pick up four trophies with the Blues during the 2020/21 season: the Community Shield, The Women’s Super League Title, the Continental Cup, and the FA Cup.
It’s not hard to understand why Jessie Fleming won the 2021 “Player of the Year” award in Canada after looking at her performances for club and country.
But who is Jessie Fleming the footballer? What are her skills and what does she bring to her team?
Zecira Musovic, Chelsea
“She is one of the most football intelligent players I have ever played with. With her perception of the game and finesse, she makes everyone and everything around her so much better. She is a player that works incredibly hard, often in silence, both in the offensive and in the attacking play. Jessie has grown so much I think [in] the past year, both on and off the pitch. From my position and perspective on the pitch, I can really see how valuable she is for the team’s performances”.
Janine Beckie, Canada
“Jessie is one of the smartest, most tactically sound players that I’ve played with. The way she thinks about the game is very clearly seen in the way she plays. She is a smooth, highly skilled, and savvy midfielder who is at the center of creativity in any team she plays in. She has an eye for goals and creating for others. Off the field, she is one of the kindest souls I’ve ever been around, an incredible and loyal friend, and an unmatched teammate”.
Fleming is a very versatile midfielder who can be used in all positions across the midfield. In Chelsea this current season, she has played as a right-winger in the attacking front three and as a No 8, in a slightly more defensive role. This season, Chelsea have mostly played a 3-4-3 formation, but lately they have gone back to their successful 4-4-2 formation from last season as well.
In an episode of the ‘Their Pitch’ podcast, she describes herself as a No 8 in the traditional sense.
“I don’t see myself as a No 10 but I also don’t consider myself as a holding midfielder. I think I’m the type of player that can get box-to-box and join our backline and our frontline in the attack whether that’s through playing passes in behind or turning and combining through our midfield and definitely have my hand in goalscoring whether that’s in playing the pass to set someone up to get the assist, or get the assist myself or scoring one myself every now and then. In general, I think I am kind of the ‘link player’.
Canada switch formations between 4-3-3 or 4-3-1-2 where Fleming can operate quite freely from time to time, depending on who she partners up with in the midfield. The hard-working Fleming is often seen in the central part of the pitch. In this clip below, we see Fleming’s ability to hold on to the ball, even if she operates in a crowded situation.
Using the scouting tool Transfer Lab, we can see Fleming’s metrics in the ‘Box to Box - midfielder’ player profile.
Looking at Fleming's profile shows that her quality lies in: both long and short progressive passing, key passes, and interceptions.
Her long progressive passes are in the 93rd percentile while the short progressive passes are in the 70th percentile. In this clip below, Fleming makes the long pass that reaches Chelsea teammate Fran Kirby, who can assist Pernille Harder to the goal. This is the Canadian being vital after Chelsea have won the ball, and showing her perception of the game by being quick with her pass to play it up front with an accurate long ball that breaks the lines.
Fleming’s ability to play on the right-hand side also gives the Canadian room to play crosses in order to assist the strikers. In the 2020/21 FA Cup semi-final, Fleming sets up teammate Bethany England with a perfect cross for the striker to head home.
But we can also let TransferLab show us how Fleming appears in the ‘Winger - All round player profile. Here we find Fleming’s ability in goalscoring, when it comes to quality in finishing, is very good – she ranks 92nd in the percentile.
In a game where Canada played against Wales in April 2021, Fleming showed her skills in scoring as well.
About TransferLab Scouting Tool:
TransferLab is a scouting software that goes beyond raw numbers. Feeding the data through our unique algorithm, the platform produces a host of predictive metrics which add depth and colour to the basic stats that are generally used within the football industry.
Applying these metrics to over 100,000 players in our database, TransferLab allows you to scout players to a level previously unavailable to most clubs. With the extensive suite of tools available within the platform, you can now discover players much more efficiently than ever before.
You can read more about TransferLab here