Links to Manchester United
Spanish journalist Francesc Aguilar reported last night that Manchester United is in the race for Atletico Madrid midfielder Saúl Ñíguez, surpassing Liverpool in the chase for the out of favour star.
According to Aguilar, Manchester United have taken a “decisive step” in their pursual of the Elche-born midfielder, amidst the stalling of a deal between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid over a Saúl and Griezmann swap. Ñíguez’s English agent Jonathan Barnett has supposedly been “advancing the negotiations with Manchester United”, which has seen them overtake Liverpool in the race for the midfielder’s signature.
What Can he Bring?
If Saúl was signed by Manchester United, and Frenchman Paul Pogba was retained by the club, The Red Devils may possess the most threatening midfield in the world, at least on paper. Saúl, Bruno and Pogba are all world class within their own right. Even if you do not believe the hype in one, two or all three of them, it is inarguable that all these players don’t at the bare minimum have the ability to produce world class performances on any night, whether it be consistently or not. That is a terrifying prospect for opposition teams, and will only add to the fear factor Ole Gunnar Solskjær has been gradually re-introducing to Old Trafford.
How Does he Fit In?
Tactically speaking is where this move makes a bit less sense. Mike Phelan has recently spoke about the teams plan to shift to a 433 (whilst still having other formations up their sleeve), and assuming Pogba remains a Manchester United player, despite the overwhelming pure talent and quality available upon Saúl’s hypothetical arrival, a midfield of Ñíguez, Pogba and Fernandes feels exploitable.
It would be presumed that in a 433 system, the Spaniard would play as a lone 6, whilst Fernandes and Pogba play as two advanced eights. Despite thriving in seasons past in Diego Simeone’s rigid and defensively solid system, mainly as a box-to-box style centre-midfielder, it’s evident that there are holes within Saúl’s game defensively.
An immediately glaring issue with Ñíguez is his lack of aerial ability, despite standing at 6’0” tall. Last season the Spanish midfielder won 49.6% of his aerial duels, his lowest percentage in the last four seasons. Fred who is 5’7” was also in the 40-49.9% range last season. Admittedly, the Brazilian is in the lower end of this spectrum with a 41.7% aerial success rate, however, the point still stands that, especially for his height and position, Saúl’s aerial ability isn’t amazing, and may be exploited further in the Premier League, where a certain level of physicality is almost a necessity, compared to La Liga. His interceptions are also seemingly poor as he’s in the 38th percentile of midfielders in La Liga last season, at 0.97 per90.
With that being said, he is in the 93rd percentile for passes blocked per90 at 1.83, showing that he’s got great positioning which allows him to disrupt opposition possession, alongside elite one-on-one defending, as he was the best in La Liga last season at tackling dribblers, with 1.59 per90.
However, it is important not to get too bogged down in stats, especially in the case of Saúl, as his seem to be dictated by system rather than ability. Playing in a defensively minded, regimented Diego Simeone system, there is not one player who’s solely relied on to carry out the defensive duties of the team like a lot of sixes in the current chic of football, it’s a group effort. Therefore, a lot of Saúl’s general statistics look middling, slightly above average at best. However, once you dig deeper you can uncover and verify the talent that seems obvious when watching him.
Given his clear ability to both lock down attackers on the ball, and position himself to cut off passing lanes, he possesses two crucial characteristics a number six needs to excel. Whilst not 100% natural as a six currently, given his positional versatility and those aforementioned elements he’s displayed for Atletico Madrid, if anyone could make the transition to the position full time in a quick manner, Saúl is the most likely.
Summary
Overall, Saúl represents a conflict of philosophy in a prospective signing. He is clearly the most talented midfielder available, and arguably represents the best value for money as well, seemingly no risk all reward. However, with him not being a natural six, and despite the relative bargain that he is, a reported £50Million is still a hefty price tag. If anything, he represents the most risk out of all the midfielders Manchester United are linked to. Should it succeed though, Manchester United may possess one of the, if not the, best midfield in club football.