Thursday, July 3, 2014

Huntelaar to replace Suarez?

There are reports that we are interested in bringing in Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to 'replace' Suarez.  First and foremost, Suarez is not 'replaceable' except for maybe by Messi.  Bringing in Huntelaar would be purely on his goal-scoring prowess and not his goal creation ability, though Suarez trumps him in both regards.  Huntelaar, who had that crazy period where he jumped from Ajax to Real Madrid to Milan to Schalke in little over two seasons, has actually settled at the Bundesliga side for four seasons now.  Here is the output of him and Suarez from last season.

HuntelaarSuarez
age31*27
app (sub)17(1)33
mins14542962
goals1231
assists012
chances987
npg900.740.94
gcp900.741.3
ccp900.562.6
ap9000.37
ccv00.14
pass %74.574.8
bp %41.844.1
sacc %41.844.8
shot %21.817.1
TTI9011.517
*Huntelaar will turn 31 in early August.

Huntelaar is only better at one thing, shot selection, but not significantly.  He does appear to hold on to the ball better, but Suarez has approximately 37.3% more touches per match.

Other than the fact that Huntelaar will struggle to make up for the loss of goals provided by Suarez, he will provide little to no assists nor chances created.  Also, he'll be 31 this August and though the season before last he regained his 'Ajax form', he has battled niggling injuries much of the past four seasons at Schalke.  Here are his stats from the past five seasons:

2009-102010-112011-122012-132013-14
MilanSchalkeSchalkeSchalkeSchalkeTotals
age2728293031
app (sub)11(14)22(2)322617(1)108(17)
mins104619862796222514549507
goals7829101266
assists0184013
chances5113922986
npg900.520.320.740.360.740.55
gcp900.60.411.190.570.740.75
ccp900.430.51.250.890.560.81
ap9000.050.260.1600.12
ccv00.10.210.1800.15
pass %81.776.276.174.174.576
bp %---47.441.845.8
sacc %30.63035.328.744.845.6
shot %14.3819.39.321.819.8
TTI9010.411.511.210.311.511

The most impressive thing is that his TTI90 stays consistent, but he appears to be unpredictable in most every other stat, which only adds to his risk.  The other thing is his price.  His valuation is set at £10.56, not a chance in hell should anyone pay that much.  Even at £8m, it's a gamble for a 15-20 goal scorer.  I can understand Rodgers' thinking here, right-footed poacher to pair with Sturridge, but there's definitely better prospects.  If Huntelaar's teammate, Jefferson Farfan, wasn't about to undergo knee surgery, he would be a much preferred choice.

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