Ruben Pardo could be the next Gerrard

Ruben Pardo has also been called the next Xabi Alonso and rightfully so, the 21-year-ol Real Sociedad 'regista' is already a master passer, especially of the long ball.  Last season, he completed 155 of 215 long balls, a rate of 72.1%, those are Alonso (172/226, 76.1%) and Gerrard-esque (257/350, 73.4%) numbers.

Here's how Pardo and Gerrard compare from last season:

	Pardo	Gerrard
age	21	34
npg90	0.14	0.09
gcp90	0.53	0.81
ccp90	1.39	2.1
ap90	0.38	0.4
ccv	27.3	19.1
pass %	85.5	85.9
bp %	35.1	30.6
sacc %	45	51.7
shot %	15	27.1
TTI90	9.9	10.9
intp90	1.48	1.49
clrp90	0.39	2.83
drpp90	1.12	0.68
tp90	1.76	3
ts%	35.8	52.2
gap90	1.2	1.37
gsp90	2.01	2.67
gop90	0.81	1.3
tgop	0.18	1.32
gopd	0.63	-0.02

If you take away Gerrard's ten penalty goals, Pardo actually has a better goals created per 90, shot accuracy percentage, and shot percentage, but the Spaniard is a ways away from reaching Stevie-G's defensive prowess.  Pardo does have a lower turnover rate and probably the most impressive is his goals on pitch difference.  Where Gerrard is about even, Pardo makes his side 0.63 goals better per 90 minutes.

Pardo obviously has some work to do on defence, but the fact that he has such a great gopd, means he's got to be doing something right.  For a 21-year-old though, his attack stats are off the charts.  It is rare to find a young player with such composure on the ball, especially one who's pinpoint passing leads to a chance created value of 27.3.

If I were Rodgers, I would pay Sociedad his £24m release clause and loan him back if he's not ready to leave.  That may sound crazy, but there's no point in having him watch from the stands when he can develop in La Liga.

Karim 'Mercedes' Benzema is no Daniel 'La Ferrari' Sturridge

I have a mate who for years has been emphatically saying we should sign Benzema.  I just don't see it.  I don't think he's as good as advertised, but I've never crunched the numbers, so let's see how his stats from last season size-up with Sturridge.

	Benzema	Sturridge
npgp90	0.56	0.83
gcp90	0.85	1.1
ccp90	2.07	1.2
ap90	0.3	0.28
ccv	14.5	23.3
pass%	81.9	79.3
bp%	46.4	53.4
sacc%	45.1	42.4
shot%	16.7	21.2
TTI90	9.7	11
gap90	1.05	1.23
gsp90	2.75	2.7
gop90	1.7	1.47
tgop	1.74	1.32

Benzema's output isn't overwhelmingly impressive and definitely not worthy of £35-40m, which is his asking price.  Sturridge is the more prolific scorer and shows a higher football intelligence with his higher chance created value and shot percentage.  It's not that Benzema is wasteful in his pass and shot selection, he's just not as adept as our number 15.  Having superior pace than most forwards, Sturridge needs a set-up man with better pasing capabilities than Benzema, suprisingly we may already have that player in Rickie Lambert (18.6 ccv).

If we sign Markovic, I'm not sure we need any more attack-minded players.  We definitely don't need a player like Benzema, who does a lot of things well, but nothing in particular great.  The fact that he is surrounded by the caliber of player that he is at Madrid, his stats should at least show him to be more efficient.

Forget Benzema, forget trying to outscore our opponents every match, we need to go defensive.  One player we should try to buy is Real Sociedad's 21-year-old defensive midfielder Ruben Pardo.  He'll be the subject of my next post.