After two years at Barcelona, with the past one only participating in 5 matches, Marcos Alonso has joined Celta who have had an excellent start to the season under Claudio Giráldez. Can he add that touch of experience and quality that Celta need at the back to reach Europe?

In this article, we will be investigating Marcos Alonso and what he can offer Celta.

Name: Marcos Alonso

Position: Left Back/Center Back

Country: Spain

Age: 33

Height: 188cm

Preferred Foot: Left

Last Club: Barcelona

Marcos Alonso began his career in Real Madrid’s academy before he joined Bolton Wanderers for €2.4 million. There, he spent 3 seasons and then was signed by Fiorentina where he spent just 6 months before joining Sunderland on loan. Later, he would spend another 2 years in Italy before he joined Chelsea for €23 million in 2016. In England, he spent 6 years and then joined Barcelona where he has stayed for the past two seasons.

Before we begin the data analysis it is important to mention that although he has played most of his career as a left back, we will be analyzing him as if he were a center back. This is because, it is very probable he will play in that position at Celta as he has played there at Barcelona and doesn’t fit the characteristics the left back needs in a formation with 5 defenders.

Forward Passing

Forward passes are crucial for center-backs as they are the ones who have to initiate the play.

Here we can observe that Marcos Alonso has the most forward passes per 90 with the highest precision. This showcases his excellent ability to progress the ball forward via passing and shows that he is comfortable on the ball. This is essential to play at Celta as they are a possession-based side and he can improve this facet of their game.

Progressive Passing

This passing metric gives us more depth into the danger of each player’s passing rather than just passing the ball forward 5m. This is because this metric only includes more specific passes such as a pass 10m closer to the opposition goal if the pass comes from the opposition side of the pitch.

With this image, we can identify that Marcos Alonso is effective at playing these types of dangerous passes with a high precision. This highlights his excellent passing ability which can be of great use to Celta and can improve their attacks and can showcase this part of his game to a great extent at a team where he is likely to have many touches on the ball.

Passing

How many passes a center-back makes tells us how involved he is in possession and if he is comfortable on the ball.

This image tells us that Marcos Alonso is a player that likes to have the ball given his number of passes with close to 65, far more than Celta’s players. This is very important as the center backs are the players that usually have a large amount of passes in teams that want to have possession, and this shows that Marcos Alonso is comfortable with a large pass volume.

Defensive Duels

Dominating defensive duels is essential for any defender, as their fundamental purpose is to defend his goal, and for that, winning duels is key.

Thanks to this image, we can say that Marcos Alonso is not as good in his defensive than in his offensive attributes with just more than 4 defensive duels per 90, the least. However, it is true that he has a high success rate, though it is uncertain what success rate he would have if he participated in more duels. Nonetheless, as Celta will have the ball most of the time, he won’t need this part of the game.

Aerial Duels

Aerial duels are essential for any defender who wants to succeed and even more, for those who press high and recover the ball up the pitch, as the opposing team will look to play long, and for that, aerial duels are required.

From this image, we can deduce that Marcos Alonso does not have a deficiency in his aerial ability, however, it is true that he participates in very few aerial duels even though he has a high success rate. Nonetheless, since Celta will have the ball for most of the time he won’t have to participate in many aerial duels. This low amount of aerial duels is probably because at Barcelona he wasn’t exposed to these situations as they had the ball most of the time.

This chart compares Marcos Alonso with the rest of the La Liga players in his position in the 22/23 season using percentiles in different aspects of the game. The percentiles work in the way that whatever the number, he is better than that percentage of players. If it is 70, he is better than 70%.

In this chart, we can observe that Marcos Alonso has a high xG which shows that he is a threat most probably from set-pieces with him on the end of the cross. This is something that can be a huge asset as Celta do not have many players of those characteristics. In addition, he is in the 83rd percentile for shot-creating actions which highlights his excellent ability on the ball.

Furthermore, his possession-based aspects suggest he is a player suited to be in a possession-based team with very high percentiles in passes attempted and touches, as well as progressive carries and passes. This once more suggests he is a player that likes to have the ball and is able to use it effectively which can be of great value as Celta’s center-backs are not exceptional in this matter.

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Finally, we can see that he is very good in his 1vs1 defending being in the 85th percentile for success rate of dribblers tackled. He is good in this aspect probably thanks to his experience playing as a full-back which can be useful to defend counter attacks as he will be exposed to 1v1 situations. Nonetheless, his other defensive capabilities are far from excellent being below average in blocks, tackles + interceptions, and clearances. This is something that he will not use as much in Celta, however, it is a deficiency in his game.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Marcos Alonso is a superb signing for Celta as he has the experience and ability they lacked in defense and can be a major asset to help them reach European competitions. This is because he is excellent on the ball and exceeds that of Celta’s current players in that position substantially. In addition, his 1vs1 defending is exceptional and can be of great use as he will be exposed to 1vs1 situations.

Furthermore, he has experience in the Premier League as well as at Barcelona, which has a similar playing style to Celta. This means that he shouldn’t have many issues as he suits the 3-back formation perfectly just like other players like Ricardo Rodríguez in the World Cup for Switzerland. Nonetheless, his defensive capabilities are something that he does lack. Furthermore, this data is from two seasons ago so we will have to see if he can recover his form.

By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Adam Davy – PA Images / Darren Walsh – Chelsea FC / Robin Jones – Getty Images