Showing posts with label Diao. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Diao. Show all posts

Sunday, August 10, 2014

The Spanish-Senegalese 'Raheem Sterling' is there for the picking

Keita Baldé Diao is a 19-year-old Spanish forward of Senegalese descent, who is currently plying his trade at Italian club, SS Lazio.  He was brought up through the Barcelona youth system, but was loaned out to Cornellá after the 2009-10 season due to disciplinary reasons.  Unfortunately it worked against Barça as Keita refused to return and was sold to Lazio.

Keita finally broke through to the first team last season and did not disappoint.  In limited action, he scored 5 goals and posted 3 assists, but he impressed most in his decisiveness.  For a 19-year-old and a forward in general, he posted a fairly low true turnover index per 90 minutes of 9.93, a decent 82.5% successful pass rate, and a 54% shot accuracy percentage, which would have been tops on Liverpool last season.

Here is a stat comparison from last season of Sterling and him:
npg90ap90gc90cc90ccvpass%tti90gopd
Keita0.330.200.521.630.1200.8259.930.07
Sterling0.360.200.572.060.0970.81712.10.22

Their numbers are eerily similar save chances created 90 (cc90), chance created value (ccv), and true turnover index 90 (tti90).  A tti90 below 10 at his age and position is simply unheard of and a ccv a full 20 points above what is considered the average shows he is efficient and unselfish.

Should we buy him though? Well, word is Lazio want £24m for him, that seems a bit high, but he does have the potential to make that price still seem like a bargain years from now.  To add a player of his pace and skill doesn't come around that often.  Here's a video with horrible music to judge for yourself:


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