The newest Norwegian import to Music City is 24-year-old center back Maxwell Woledzi. His profile is exactly what you’d want; young enough to improve but with plenty of experience, tall, athletic, a Best XI player in 2024, and Fredrikstad’s Player of the Season in 2025, all for just $1.6 million. What’s not to love?
Ben Wright
Center back is probably the most difficult outfield position to quantify because a good team doesn’t give their center backs many opportunities to rack up counting stats. Still, we’re going to try our best.
Statistical overview
Woledzi is a quality player, but his stats don’t jump off the page. As I mentioned above, Fredrikstad were a very strong defensive team, with the second-best defense in the league in 2025, so Woledzi didn't often get opportunities to tackle dribblers or intercept passes. However, when he was called upon, he answered.
Woledzi won 73% of his defensive duels and 65% of his aerial duels, one of the top all-around duel winners in the league this season. He’s also a clean defender and doesn’t commit many fouls. Eliteserien center backs average about 10.4 defensive actions per foul, while Woledzi averaged 12.4. For a young center back, it's important to have the basics down, and Woledzi certainly does.
The offensive side of his game is still developing, and this is where his biggest weakness lies. He’s not a particularly skilled dribbler, and he often tries too many dribbles. In the video below, you can see a few instances where he pulls off some impressive moves, but it’s a highlight reel from Norway – that kind of play won’t work consistently in MLS.
Ten players in the Eliteserien completed at least 0.5 dribbles per game. Woledzi had the lowest success rate among them at only 39.5%.
From what I've seen, new Nashville SC center back Maxwell Woledzi has a lot of similarities to Jeisson Palacios, but younger and much quicker. Not afraid to break the initial line of pressure and carry the ball into midfield. Should be a great fit. pic.twitter.com/lKhL0gn1qK
— Ben Wright (@benwright) December 2, 2025
His passing game is more of the same, but a little better. He attempts many progressive passes, though he’s only average at it. He completes just over eight progressive passes per game, which is a bit above the MLS average of 7.5, and his 69% completion rate is about the same as the MLS average.
At 24 years old, we’ll take average. Besides progressive passes, he is generally a safe passer, averaging only 18.5 meters per pass. Nashville depend heavily on their fullbacks to progress the ball forward, so the center backs don’t have to worry about that. Each of the three NSC center backs last year averaged around 20 meters per pass, close to the MLS league average.
A reporters perspective
Martin Bjerke has watched Woledzi probably more than anyone else over the past two seasons and shared his perspective on the player and the signing.
SixOneFive Soccer Staff
I have two major questions for Woledzi. First, can he make quick decisions and take fewer risks dribbling under pressure in his own half? As I mentioned earlier, highlight reels only show the best moments, and he can afford to take more chances in Norway. It will be tougher in MLS.
And second, how will he pair with Jeisson Palacios? I think Palacios and Woledzi share many of the same strengths and weaknesses, and personally, I prefer a center back pairing with different profiles to complement each other. I don’t believe Nashville is finished making moves at that position, so the answer to this question should become clearer as we get closer to the opening week of 2026.
I believe Woledzi has the defensive ability to be an above-average center back in MLS from day one, but there are parts of his game that need refinement. And that’s okay; he’s only 24, and it takes time for center backs to reach their full potential.
From what I’ve seen, his ceiling could be one of the highest on the team.
