Bryan Zaragoza started last season at Granada where he showed his exceptional quality which led Bayern Munich to sign him in January. Nonetheless, since arriving in Germany he has not had the game time he would have hoped having only played around 200 minutes. Because of this, he is back in Spain and has signed for Osasuna. In this article, we will be investigating how Bryan Zaragoza can elevate Osasuna to the next level with his arrival.

Name: Bryan Zaragoza

Position: Left Winger/Right Winger

Country: Spain

Age: 22

Height: 164cm

Preferred Foot: Right

Last Club: Bayern Munich

Bryan Zaragoza was formed in Granada’s academy and in 2021 went on loan to El Ejido before coming back and staying for 3 years and a half. This January, he was signed by Bayern Munich for more than €15 million where he has had limited game time. Before we start with the data analysis it is important to mention that the data of Bryan Zaragoza is from his time at Granada last season as in Germany he has not had enough minutes to complete a data analysis.

In this image, we can see that Bryan Zaragoza has more goals scored and more xG than José Arnáiz. In addition, he has more goals scored than xG which highlights his ability to score goals and be decisive for his team. 

Here, we can see that Bryan Zaragoza has more assists than José Arnáiz, however, the latter has more expected assists. Nonetheless, they both have high numbers in these aspects which is important for any team.

Here we can see that Bryan Zaragoza has an exceptional crossing capability attempting almost 5 crosses per 90 with more than a 35% success rate. This aspect is important as Osasuna will constantly attack on the wing on the counter and being able to cross the ball into the striker to create opportunities can decide the outcome of matches.

From this image, we can deduce that Bryan Zaragoza’s ability to dribble is sensational attempting almost 10 dribbles per 90 with a success rate superior to 45%. This is an important aspect for the new manager as when on the counter, the attackers will be exposed to 1vs1 situations and he is a player who can exploit them.

This chart compares Bryan Zaragoza 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 whatever the number, he is better than that percentage of players. If it is 70, he is better than 70%.

In the chart, we can see that he is not in very high percentiles in terms of goal and assist output as well as expected goals and assists. This is perhaps something he can improve on if he is to be elite in the future and indispensable for Vicente Moreno.  In addition, in the possession-based aspects, we can observe that he excels in successful dribbles and progressive ball-carrying. These are aspects that are crucial for a counter-attacking team and can be put to great use by the manager. 

We can also identify that he does not get involved in the possession when his team has the ball with very low percentiles in passes attempted and touches on the ball. Nonetheless, these are not crucial aspects for Vicente Moreno as he is not a manager who needs to have the ball.

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Finally, it is clear that he is not very committed when defending with very low percentiles in the defensive aspects. This is something he must improve if he is to play in Osasuna as they will probably be in a medium-defensive block most of the time so he will have to help the full-back defend.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Bryan Zaragoza can be an excellent signing for Osasuna if the manager can maximize his strengths and minimize his weaknesses. He fits the style of Vicente Moreno and can flourish in Pamplona as he can be deadly on the counterattack. Nonetheless, he does not take enough care of his defensive duties and that is something that he must change. Finally, although he was signed by Bayern Munich just after 6 months in Spain’s top flight showing his quality, he has not played much in Germany. So, we will have to see if he can recover the level he showed at Granada.

By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / NurPhoto