Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Rising French star to 'replace' Suarez

Alexandre Lacazette is a 23-year-old forward who plays for Lyon in Ligue 1 and the France national football team.  He's got great ball skills, passing vision, and is a solid finisher.  Last season he came into his own, netting 15 goals in 36 appearances.  Here is his output from that campaign:
npgp90gcp90ccp90ap90ccv
0.470.561.270.097.3
pass%bp%sacc%shot%TTI90
77.352.947.617.911.2
gsp90gap90gop90tgopgopd90
1.581.090.490.320.17

At first glance, that chance created value is dismal.  It basically means he is not setting up his teammates with good looks at goal or his teammates take bad shots or they are horrible finishers.  The fact that his teammates took 51% of their shots outside of the box leads me to believe answer number two is most likely why his ccv was so poor.  Still, it's an area in need of improvement.

His passing could see some development as well, a 52.9% back pass percentage tells me that his 77.3% passing rate is misleading, but at least he isn't turning over the ball at an obscene rate.  An 11.2 true turnover index is about what Sterling and Coutinho post.

There are other positives, he is only 23 and will only probably only cost about £16m.  I don't know if we necessarily need him though and maybe another year at Lyon would be best for all.  If he can improve on last season and score 20+ goals, he probably won't go up in value more than £25m, but he'll be a proven talent, not just a flash in the pan. A 'replacement' for Suarez though? I think not.

No comments:

Popular Posts