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Can Enes Unal Fill a Dominic Solanke-Sized Void for Bournemouth?

August 26, 2024
Player Analysis, Transfer Analysis

Dominic Solanke, despite flattering to deceive at previous ‘big-six’ Chelsea and Liverpool, has jumped ship from the Cherries, and moved east to Spurs. Given that Bournemouth acquired the 26 year old for a fee of approximately £19 million in 2019, a net profit of around £36 million (not including any hypothetical addons) and 72 goals for the club in his 5 years is nothing short of a phantasmagorical situation for the coastside club.

 

However, his departure leaves a glaring, talisman shaped hole in the side. It will be by no means an easy act to follow nor easy shoes to fill. Yet, it is clear to see Bournemouth’s long standing shrewdness prevail again with their contingency plan for Solanke. That so-called ‘contingency plan’ being Enes Unal, signed on loan in January, and made permanent thereafter, provides a much-needed striker option for the otherwise tactless Bournemouth.

 

But, I hear you ask, just signing any given striker doesn’t quantify a valid or sufficient replacement for the outgoing bagsman? And, I agree. Therefore my aim for this article is to compare, contrast and conclude how apt a replacement incumbent Unal is for outgoing Solanke. Consequently, and by extension I suppose, evaluate Bournemouth’s outlook for the season ahead.

 

 

First of all, it seems fit to provide some background on the otherwise understated Unal. Unal, previously of Manchester City in his younger years, is 27 and was most recently on Getafe CF, before his loan at Bournemouth in January. During this loan, in his 320 minutes he netted twice and also recorded two assists.

 

Fortuitously, Unal has been plagued by injury throughout his career. In particular recency a cruciate ligament tear in May 2023, followed by a broken toe shortly after returning. All in all, as of today, Unal has missed around 247 days due to injury since last May. Of course, I and Bournemouth will both wish that such frequency of injuries does not persist. 

 

As Unal was sidelined for the majority of the 2023/24 season, it would be a mistake to compare this ineffectual season with Solanke’s outstanding 2023/24. Therefore, I have chosen from a statistical front to use Unal’s 22/23 campaign prior to the ACL tear as this serves better as a means of comparison and is far greater of a parallel. Contextually in their respective seasons; Getafe finished 15th on 42 points.

 

Meanwhile, Bournemouth finished 12th on 48. Therefore, bear in mind that Solanke was on a marginally better team during the datasets I will consider. Nevertheless, both players operated in rather expansive, experimental avant-garde systems with tactically flamboyant managers, namely: Quique Sanchez Flores (and Jose Bordalas briefly) and Andoni Iraola. 

 

Milos Kerkez: Bournemouth’s New Hungarian Left Back

 

Superficially, the incumbent and the departing measure up similarly. Both approximated to weigh 74 kilograms and only a mere couple centimetres discerning them in height with Solanke measuring the taller at 187cm. Equally, they are both predominantly right footed. Now, let’s look statistically. 

 

I have, on the whole, looked at goal scoring statistics to compare the two. As Solanke was the primary goal scoring threat for Bournemouth (by a comfortable margin) and it will be Unal’s job to compensate for such effective output. Whilst being a reductive and mundane element to point out; purely in terms of goals per 90, Unal ranked in the 66th percentile in the league, whereas Solanke ranked more promisingly in the 75th. 

 

More interestingly perhaps, is when we factor creative numbers into the mix. Combining goals and assists per 90, Unal ranks stronger in the 69th percentile while Solanke regresses into the 56th percentile. This is indicative, perhaps, that whilst Bournemouth may lose some raw goalscoring output, they may gain in the aggregate given Unal’s creativity.

 

Moreover evidenced by the xAG (Expected Assisted Goals) metric which measures the likelihood of a goal arising from a player’s impact or interaction with the ball. Solanke underwhelmingly ranks in the 23rd percentile whereas Unal comes out favourably again in the 59th percentile.

 

 

Unal, despite being a similar prototype to Solanke, from the data seems to have a much greater interconnected relationship with alternative attacking options and provides a greater threat to defences in this respect with such a  multidimensional nature. This creativity manifests itself in the number of passes the two players attempt.

 

Solanke ranks in the 9th percentile, in the basement of the Premier League, whereas Unal ranks in the 51st and thus has a much larger tendency to attempt to pass and recycle possession where Solanke may be keen to shoot or dribble, in a more self-serving manner. 

 

Now for your favourite summer artists’ metric, Charli (xG)x. I apologise for the pun, but having foregone the opportunity to make it my fantasy team name (with ‘Old Havertz Kai Hard’ taking that honour) I felt obliged to put it in the public domain another way. Unal has a pertinently low xG, ranking in the 49th percentile.

 

This is by no means inherently bad. However, his overperformance in this given year is likely insufficient-a-period to conclude that he can always outperform the expected numbers and it is perhaps more realistic to expect a regression to the mean in the long run. Additionally, his Non-Penalty xG is extremely low; ranking in the 23rd percentile.

 

Evanilson: The Young Brazilian Striker Making a Name for Himself in Portugal

 

This portrays that Unal derives a large majority of his chances from 12 yards, not a flaw but a fact– insofar that his non-penalty goals tally per 90 lands him in the 46th percentile. By contrast, Solanke drives high quality chances aplenty with his xG in the 81st percentile and not dissimilarly his NPxG in the 75th. Furthermore, in terms of shooting efficiency, Solanke holds the dominion with his goals/ shots on targets ranking in the 79th percentile compared to Unal’s mediocre 41st.

 

Noteworthy and perhaps undervalued is Unal’s outstanding ability to draw fouls. It may seem a minor element of the game, but in terms of asserting dominance over the game state, Unal ranking in the 96th percentile for fouls drawn can not go amiss, especially given Solanke ranks in the 28th percentile.

 

Evermore, the onus lies on defence to start from the front and given Iraola’s progressive system, an effective press is vital for this. Unal, in regards to tackles in the middle third, where the first phase press is likely to occur ranks in the 78th percentile, 22 percentiles better than his counterpart. His systematic suitability here cannot be questioned.

 

With both player’s naturally being blessed vertically, the aerial element of their respective game would presumably be one of their strongest assets. Unal, once again, is dominant in this regard. In terms of aerial duels won, Unal is second to very few in the 93rd percentile, although Solanke still impresses in the 75th percentile. Additionally, in terms of % of aerials won, Unal ranks in the 74th percentile to Solanke’s 64. Aerially, Enes adopts an amalgamation of ability and efficiency which cannot be understated.

 

 

Unal, by my estimations, provides a diversified range of useful strengths for Bournemouth. Whilst notwithstanding that his pure, goal-by-goal output may fall slightly short of the outgoing Solanke. Unal, I believe, nevertheless provides arguably a more well-rounded threat to the side.

 

Solanke was and will continue to be an excellent ‘no9’, but will struggle as the numbers show to interconnect with his team and be involved in creative sequences. This is where I foresee Unal excelling at the Vitality Park and given the abundance of youthful talent at the hands of Andoni Iraola, I do not see why Unal can not be the perfect, in situ replacement for the gargantuan loss of Dominic Solanke, and why Bournemouth cannot perhaps even be better without Solanke. 

 

By: Max Nicholls / @maxnicholls14

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Pressinphoto / Icon Sport

 

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