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Sep 28, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read Read on X
🚨 TRANSFER ALERT 🚨

Rúben Dias has moved from Benfica to Manchester City for €68m, @DuncanCastles reports. Here are his stats at a Premier League standard – good attacking output and ball retention, great defending quality, awesome tackler, good in the air on dead balls:

1/4
But what's really exciting about Dias is his attacking. He was involved in 45% of Benfica's goals last season, which is huge for a RCB. He generated even more ball progression expected goals from receiving as from passing, too, taking high-quality shots (and finishing them):

2/4
Here's our smartermap for Dias last season. He got deep into the attacking half for Benfica, leaving room on the flank for the RB, and with Manchester City he should have opportunities to do the same. He even took some of those good shots in open play!

3/4
A while ago we compared Dias with Nicolás Otamendi and Jules Koundé, another mooted signing. Otamendi was the most aggressive RCB in the league in 2016-17, but he's slowed down quite a lot. Dias will juice things up a bit as he grows into the role.



4/4

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More from @smarterscout

May 22, 2023
Do we have to do this again? Yes, apparently we do....

Earth to Boehly: Why Dušan Vlahović maybe not be worth €80m to a Premier League team

1/n
First off, the basics. Vlahović has a total of 13 non-penalty goals and assists in about 3,000 league minutes over two seasons at Juventus. (Juventus! In Serie A!) You don't need fancy stats to say that's not too impressive. But let's look at the fancy stats anyway....

2/n
Vlahović's attacking output in our models has actually declined since he left Fiorentina. His ball retention has also been decidedly lousy. So what's special about him? He's an avid defender and a great finisher. But let's find out just why he looks like such a deadeye....

3/n Image
Read 8 tweets
May 4, 2023
THE BOEHLY-ERA CHELSEA MEGATHREAD

Chelsea's new owners spent more than £550m in the transfer market – what did they get, and how have the players performed?

We start at the top with Enzo Fernández. Though his attacking output is down, his numbers are similar to at Benfica:

1/n Image
Next, Wesley Fofana. He has also looked good, though not quite as good as at Leicester. And playing wide in a back three tends to boost metrics (more attacking opportunities, fewer backstop defending plays):

2/n Image
Mykhailo Mudryk. There was supposedly a battle to sign him, but we warned about his poor finishing. Pretty sure we got that one right. But even his underlying attacking output is way down from Shakhtar.

3/n Image
Read 20 tweets
Jan 5, 2023
THREAD: What is João Félix for?

He's now 23 and was never flagged as a smarterscout young prospect. His attacking output was decent last season (even at Atleti!), but he rarely got shots off for a striker. His finishing and skills are so-so at a Premier League standard:

1/n
A big reason behind the drop in João Félix's attacking output this season has been lower shot quality. But his shots were never so great for a striker – we'd want to see something more like 0.15 to 0.20 xG per shot:

2/n
Here are João Félix's shot maps in open play from this season and last at striker. Lots of lousy long-range efforts and, when he's successful, finishes from the edge of the six-yard box. Feast or famine.

3/n
Read 6 tweets
Jan 4, 2023
THREAD: Where does Enzo Fernández fit in at Chelsea?

We flagged him as a smarterscout young prospect in 2021 with Defensa y Justicia, and just two years later he's a World Cup winner heading for the Premier League. His overall stats at a PL standard are amazing:

1/n #ChelseaFC
The main caution with Enzo Fernández is that his skill ratings are pretty average for the Premier League so far. But he's an aggressive player on both sides of the ball. He's a very attacking DM, involved in the majority of Benfica's goals when on the pitch:

2/n
But the majority of Enzo Fernández's attacking comes from incisive passing – he hardly gets into the box at all, as our smartermap shows:

3/n
Read 8 tweets
Aug 19, 2022
A short thread on Casemiro. At age 30, he's still a very aggressive defender with high ball retention and good attacking output at a Premier League standard. But his defending quality has been dropping, and he's been relatively worse in the #UCL.

1/4 #Casemiro #MUFC #ManUtd
Casemiro covers a lot of ground but stayed quite central for Real Madrid last season. He doesn't come out to cover on the flanks very often, and he rarely gets in to the box. That doesn't stop him from taking pot shots, though....

2/4
Right now Casemiro has a lot in common with countryman Fernandinho in his early 30s. Casemiro is better in the air but worse in 1v1s. He also dribbles less and does more progressive passing than Fernandinho did back then.

3/4
Read 5 tweets
Jun 22, 2021
🚨 TRANSFER ALERT 🚨

Norwich have signed forward Milot Rashica ("hra-SHEET-sa") from Werder Bremen for €11m. We've been following him since 2015 – and he hasn't been as productive lately as he was in 2018-19. Let's find out why not.

Stats at a Premier League standard:

1/x
As you can see above, Rashica has played mainly as a striker for Werder Bremen, with great skill in 1v1s but declining attacking output. His style hasn't changed much, but his passing has gotten less aggressive and his dribbling has declined a little bit:

2/x
The share of Rashica's ball progression contributions from receiving doubled since 2018-19, while the share from passing is about the same. The remainder is his individual actions – so he's not taking the ball forward and winning as many duels as he used to:

3/x
Read 7 tweets

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