After a poor campaign under Rafa Benítez which saw them change manager and bring in Claudio Giráldez, Celta de Vigo are looking to make many changes in the first team, having already sold Jørgen Strand Larsen to Wolves. To replace him, they have signed former player Borja Iglesias on loan, who’ll be looking to revitalize his career after struggling for minutes at Real Betis and Bayer Leverkusen. In this article, we will be delving deep into Borja Iglesias’ profile and how he can impact this new Celta side.

Name: Borja Iglesias

Position: Center Forward

Age: 31

Country: Spain

Height: 187cm

Preferred Foot: Right

Last Club: Real Betis

At the beginning of Borja Iglesias’s career, he went to many academies including Valencia, Roda, Villarreal, and Celta before he began his professional career when he went on loan to Zaragoza in 2018. After a successful loan spell, he was signed by Espanyol for €10 million, and after just one season, he left to sign for Real Betis for €28 million. Iglesias scored 52 goals and 12 assists in 181 appearances for Betis, but after struggling for minutes under Manuel Pellegrini, he joined Leverkusen on loan in January.

Before we start with the data analysis it is important to mention that Borja Iglesias’ data comes from two seasons ago when he played at Betis, as this season he has had limited game time.

In these images, we can see that Borja Iglesias has a goal-scoring instinct as he has very high numbers in xG averaging an expected 1 goal per 2 matches, meanwhile hs xA is quite low. His high numbers in xG showcase his ability to get into goal-scoring positions, nonetheless, his amount of goals per 90 is quite low seeing his high xG which means that he could have scored more goals. We can also see that his numbers are very similar to outgoing Strand Larsen. At Celta, he will probably have fewer chances than at Real Betis so he will need to improve his effectiveness in front of goal.

Here, we can see that Borja Iglesias does not have an agile profile and does not look very often to dribble past opponents as he attempts a low number of these with a low success rate.

Here we can see that Borja Iglesias does not get involved a lot in the play, nonetheless, he is not invisible as he does complete many passes considering he is a center forward. For Celta, it is important to be able to complete passes and get involved when their team has the ball as they play in a possession-based system.

From this image, we can deduce that Borja Iglesias’ ability to win aerial duels is quite poor as he participates in few aerial duels per 90 with a low success rate. This is an issue for Celta as we can see Celta’s other target men and the striker he is coming to replace are excellent at aerial duels. This is important as when the opposition team presses, being able to find a striker to win aerial duels and be able to attack the defense is crucial, however, Borja Iglesias does not have this capacity.

This chart compares Borja Iglesias with the rest of the La Liga players in his position using percentiles in different aspects of the game. The percentiles work in the way that the higher the number the better he is in that aspect of the game, for example, if the value is 87, that means he is better than 87% of the players he is compared to.

In this image, we can find that Borja Iglesias is quite good in xG and goals scored which is important for a striker. Nonetheless, we can also see that he is in the 24th percentile for success rate in aerial duels which is very poor and something that must be improved. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, Borja Iglesias is a center forward who can bring many goals to Celta as seen by his high xG and goals scored, nonetheless, with fewer chances at Celta he will have to be more effective in front of goal. However, being a target man he has a big issue as he does not have the ability to win aerial duels which is important for any side.

In addition, the data of Borja Iglesias is not from this season but rather from two years ago so there are question marks as to how he will be physically after having limited game time the previous season. It is true that he is a player who has a lot of experience at the highest level, playing with Betis in European competitions and winning the Copa del Rey, but he will need to rekindle his top form as Celta look to avoid getting drawn into a relegation fight.

By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Jörg Schüler / Bayer 04 Leverkusen