Gerald Taylor has had an exceptionally quick rise to the top level in Costa Rica. From a member of the youth team of a mid-table second-tier club to full international and starting right back for the most successful club in the nation’s history in under two years.

His next step, after the Copa America, could be Tynecastle Park with Heart of Midlothian close to sealing a deal that would bring him to Gorgie.

The 23-year-old initially joined Saprissa’s Under-20 team from Cariari Pococi in January 2021 before being quickly promoted to the first team. He made his debut against a Herediano side featuring a certain Kenneth Vargas. With Vargas in attack and Taylor in defence they came up against each other directly.

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Since then, he has been ever-present in the Saprissa side, featuring 113 times for the club. The Costa Rican has experience at the international level for both club and country, featuring five times for the national side and 11 times for his club across the CONCACAF Champions Cup and Central American Cup. For someone of his age, it would only be fair to class him as very experienced.

Taylor stands 6ft tall and has a physical presence. He likes to go into tackles hard and appears to be fantastic at timing his tackles. He’s involved in the sixth most defensive duels of all right backs in the league, around 8.8 per game, and has the second-highest win percentage, around 68 per cent. Encouragingly he is strong in the air, especially for a full-back. Although not involved in a lot of aerial duels, he manages to win a high percentage of them, leaving him in the 60th percentile for all full-backs in the league.

On the ball, he sits in the middle of the road for most passing actions but starts to stand out with his accuracy of passes and his accuracy of passes to the final third. His crossing doesn’t look fantastic on paper, but crossing accuracy is heavily dictated by the players who are in the box. What could prove hugely beneficial is that he features highly in crosses to the six-yard box. Hearts have players who make good runs into this area, most notably Lawrence Shankland and Vargas. It could lead to a high number of assists.

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One of the standout attributes of Dexter Lembikisa during his half-season on loan was his willingness to run with the ball and get the team up the park. That directness and pace was a welcome injection into the side. Taylor is someone who will provide that. He is a player who likes to dribble with the ball, sitting in the 84th percentile for dribbles. He also is in the 87th percentile for accelerations (dribbles at pace) and the 66th percentile for progressive runs (effectively dribbles that progress the team closer to the opposition goal).

In attack, the data looks brilliant, but what should be taken into consideration is that it doesn’t take much for a full-back to rank highly in this area. Taylor scored two goals and got three assists in the league last season, taking 0.59 shots per game with a 35 per cent accuracy rate. This doesn’t include a goal in the CONCACAF Champions Cup though, North America's version of the Champions League.

In comparison to the club's current full-backs, he looks to be similar in possession to both Nathaniel Atkinson and Alex Cochrane. He has similar dribbling data to Atkinson and similar passing data to Cochrane, each player's stronger attributes in possession. Defensively, he seems more assured, attributed to a vastly higher defensive dual and aerial dual win percentage. In attack, he’s contributed more than the two Hearts players, with a more consistent set of data across that area.

The early signs are encouraging, and going by the trajectory of the young full-back's career so far if he can continue on this path for the next couple of years we may see him join compatriot Vargas in becoming a fan favourite.