For the first time in 12 years, Sevilla will not be competing in European football this season. Their disappointing 14th-place finish has provoked a sea change at the Andalusian club, with García Pimienta taking charge and becoming the club’s fifth manager since the departure of Julen Lopetegui in October 2022. Moroccan striker Youssef En-Nesyri was sold to Fenerbahçe for €19,500,000 whilst other veteran players like Erik Lamela, Thomas Delaney, Óliver Torres and Sergio Ramos exited the club.

As far as incomings go, Sevilla have bolstered their attack with Nigerian duo Chidera Ejuke and Kelechi Iheanacho on free transfers, whilst Peque Fernández has joined from Racing Santander for €4 million. They have also acquired backup goalkeeper Álvaro Fernández on a free transfer and reinforced their midfield with the signing of Lucien Agoumé for €5 million from Inter as well as the loan arrivals of Valentín Barco, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Saúl Ñíguez. In this article, we will be investigating Saúl Ñíguez and what he can offer to this new Sevilla side.

Name: Saúl Ñíguez

Position: Central Midfielder

Country: Spain

Age: 29

Height: 184cm

Preferred Foot: Left

Last Club: Atlético Madrid

Saúl began his career in Real Madrid’s academy before he joined Atlético Madrid’s academy and he joined the first team in 2013. However, he was loaned out for one season to Rayo Vallecano. After that, he spent 7 seasons in Atlético’s first team and then went on loan to Chelsea where he didn’t get much game time in the 2021/2022 season and this season he stayed in the team managed by Diego Simeone.

In this image, we can see that Saúl has the most expected goals amongst the Sevilla players showcasing his ability to get into goal-scoring positions. This also tells us that he is more of an offensive midfielder that likes to get close to the box.

Here we can see that Saúl has the most assists by far, however, his expected assists suggest that he should have had far fewer assists and that his tally is very inflated. Nonetheless, his expected assists value is not low and tells us that he has a decent ability to generate opportunities.

Here we can see that Saúl has the most assists by far, however, his expected assists suggest that he should have had far fewer assists and that his tally is very inflated. Nonetheless, his expected assists value is not low and tells us that he has a decent ability to generate opportunities.

Here we can see that Saúl’s ability to progress the ball through passing is quite poor as he has the least forward passes per 90 with the least precision. This tells us that he is not a suitable replacement for a player like former captain Ivan Rakitić and that he has another profile, perhaps playing further up the pitch and be the player receiving the forward pass rather than giving it.

In this image, we can see that Saúl is not a player that gets very involved in the possession of his team and this is something that he will need to modify as he will be playing in a possession-based side under García Pimienta.

In this image, we can see that Saúl is the player with the least success rate in defensive duels, nonetheless, he is the player with the most defensive duels. However, he has more than a 50% success rate which does not make it a weakness, though, this is not something that is going to be very important in Sevilla as they will have the ball most of the time.

From this image, we can deduce that Saúl’s ability to win aerial duels is outstanding with almost 6 aerial duels per 90 and more than a 50% success rate. He is by far the best midfielder in the air, however, this is not a KPI when looking at Sevilla unless he plays further back. Nonetheless, his lack of ability to play forward passes suggests he will not.

This chart compares Saúl Ñíguez 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 this chart, we can observe that Saúl is in a very high percentile for assists and expected assists which shows his ability to generate opportunities, however, he is only in the 36th percentile for shot-creating actions which denies this thesis. When looking at his goal output we can see that it is close to the average and he does not stand out.

In addition, we can see that he is very poor in all of the possession-based aspects, especially considering that he is joining a team that wants to have the ball for large portions of matches. This does not necessarily suit his style as he is only in the 50th percentile for passes attempted and in the 52nd for forward passes received.

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Finally, we can see that he is excellent in his defensive qualities being in the 87th percentile or above for all the defensive qualities. This highlights his excellent ability to defend which can be important, however, it is not something that will be of much use under García Pimienta.

Conclusion

Saúl may not be a match made in heaven for García Pimienta’s possession-heavy style, having previously honed his trade under Diego Simeone and refined his defensive attributes more than his ability in possession. Since joining from Real Madrid in 2008, Saúl has made his way through the ranks for club and country, playing in the 2018 FIFA World Cup for Spain and remaining an Atleti player throughout — apart from loan spells at Rayo Vallecano in 2013/14 and Chelsea in 2021/22.

He has scored 48 goals and 26 assists in 427 appearances for Atleti and won the La Liga title, the Copa del Rey, two Europa League titles, and a UEFA SuperCup with his boyhood club, whilst he also started in the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Final. However, with his Atleti contract set to expire in 2026, it seems that he has played his last match for the Rojiblancos, who added Conor Gallagher to an already stacked midfield of Koke, Pablo Barrios, Rodrigo De Paul and Marcos Llorente.

At 29 years of age, Saúl’s stock has taken a tumble in recent years…and so has Sevilla’s. After four straight participations in the UEFA Champions League, Sevilla missed out on Europe after finishing bottom of their Champions League group with two points as well as 14th in La Liga. Today, they find themselves in 19th place with two points from their first four matches, and they will be counting on Saúl’s arrival as they look to steer themselves out of the relegation cellar.

By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Quality Sport Images / Getty Images