Samu Costa: No Retreat, No Surrender

If Samu Costa was Gerard Butler’s stunt double in the movie 300, you wouldn’t bat an eye.

The synergies don’t stop at the physical either – there might not be a better way to describe his playstyle than “warrior-like”. Costa and Leonidas share similarities in how they approach their respective objectives: with a violent intensity that leaves the observer inspired and the opposition devastated.

Samu Costa: Profile Overview

Oftentimes, you will find discrepancies between your perceptions of a player and the numbers. In this case, the data matches the eye test which matches the general player ethos to perfection.

The high-level view of his profile:

• Not much of a threat going forwards, perhaps for lack of ability, but most primarily due to his role and instincts as a defensive midfielder
• Not a super direct passer, but has a solid range considering his 80th percentile mark for switches and 70th percentile for accurate long passes among La Liga midfielders
• Not an effective ball carrier in any sense, but he is ‘strong’ on the ball considering how often he draws fouls
• Incredibly active defender, especially for defensive third actions (shot blocks and clearances)
• Dominant aerially

Let’s dive into each component and his strengths first.

Samu Costa: Passing Range

This is definitely his best in-possession ability. Below is a graph of all LaLiga midfielders with 900+ league minutes this past season, plotted by their possession-adjusted long passes completed and switches p90.

Long passes are defined as any pass that travels 30+ yards in any direction, and a switch is defined as a completed pass that travels 40+ yards the width of the pitch. Both are excellent ways to identify players with a solid passing range, as they require the vision to find the pass and the technical ability to hit a ball with a high level of accuracy. Costa was not a graph-breaker, but he is in a respectable position, in the same range as some other young, highly-touted DLPs like Mikel Jauregizar and Stefan Bajčetić.

This season, Samu was in the 80th percentile among La Liga midfielders for both long pass accuracy and switches, but only in the 64th percentile for long passes attempted. I believe he should trust his abilities more often, as he should not be near median for attempts if he is on the high side for success rate. Plus, it is not like he Arrasate is the one limiting Mallorca’s long ball tendencies… they were 4th in La Liga for long passes attempted. 

Below is the perfect example of the pass Samu Costa likes to pick out. 

The tenets of these passes I observed:

• Head is always up
• Received the pass, took a touch to set up, hit the diagonal
• Sometimes the balls float a bit, but they also lead the receiver an appropriate amount without putting them in a difficult situation (having to control under pressure)

Samu Costa: Dueling

This is where he really earns the King Leonidas comparison. Below is a plot of La Liga Midfielders by possession adjusted defensive ground duels p90 vs. aerial duels p90.

Samu is one of the few with a high number in both metrics. Bear in mind that this is possession adjusted, and Mallorca saw 46.8% possession this past season, so in reality, Costa did more actual heavy lifting in terms of dueling than this indicates. Also worth noting that Lucas Torró’s aerial duel volume was monstrous this season, and skewed the graph, so his position does not fully represent where he would be with a fully zoomed out plot.

Samu Costa: Defensive Screening

Hope you like charts! This is more of a responsibility than it is a true ability, but he does it very well. Below is a plot of La Liga midfielders by possession adjusted shots blocked and clearances p90 – the two defensive metrics most closely correlated with defending deep.

Again, Samu stands out as being one of the best in the league in terms of both getting in the way of opposition shots and putting out fires around Mallorca’s penalty area. Having excellent marks in these categories requires three things: instructions to defend deep, the desire to do so, and the positional awareness to be in the right spots to accrue those actions. All three apply to Costa.

Samu Costa: Bringing it All Together

RCD Mallorca’s 2-1 victory over Real Valladolid back in September was the game that stood out most in my memory that encapsulates who Samu Costa is as a midfielder.

17 (!!!) defensive actions, 16 of which came in the defensive half and 7 of which came in the defensive penalty area, as well as five completed long passes, the majority of which were cross-field diagonals. Screening the back line, dueling in the midfield, and switching play with accurate long balls – the Samu Costa specialties.

Samu Costa: Ball Carrying

To be completely objective in my analysis, I need to also evaluate the negatives to Samu’s game. The first is his lack of output in the G+A / xG+xA department. This doesn’t need an in-depth explanation: he sits deep in possession and doesn’t contribute to the final phase as his responsibility is to neutralize counters and screen the back line.

The second negative, however, is one that is role-agnostic: his poor ball carrying.

Among La Liga midfielders, he was in the 72nd percentile for touch volume, the 23rd percentile for progressive carry distance, and the 24th percentile for being dispossessed. This means that Samu sees a lot of the ball, doesn’t cover ground going forwards, but loses possession at a high frequency.

All of the other angles you could look at tell the same story:

• He doesn’t attempt many take ons, but when he does, his success rate is poor
• His carries are not into dangerous areas, where there is generally a higher density of defenders
• The rate of passes he miscontrols is about average

Photo: FBRef

The saving grace to his ball control/carrying is that he is in the 86th percentile for fouls drawn. Check with your favorite player mechanics scout, but when I watch him, this all boils down to his build leading him to be a bit clumsy. I am not trained in this regard, so it is possible I am way off base, but his shoulders are pretty broad relative to the rest of his frame (which is on the skinnier side), which I think causes some stiffness and imbalance when manipulating the ball under pressure.

This thesis is corroborated by his ability to draw fouls (wider upper body = more to shield with), but inability to do much else with the ball at his feet (except pass, of course). Again, form/mechanics are not my domain of expertise, but the puzzle pieces fit together by connecting his data with what I have observed watching him.

Samu Costa: What The Future Might Hold

I don’t have a crystal ball, but I have a pretty good feeling that Samu will be on the move sometime in the next few transfer windows. The level he currently offers, plus what he can grow into at just 24 years old is something UCL/UEL competing clubs certainly must be interested in acquiring.

If you conduct a search to maximize the several traits we outlined Samu delivers the most (passing range, dueling, back line screening), he rates as the 6th best midfielder in top 5 leagues for such metrics, and the youngest in the top 10.

One name in particular stands out to me on that list: Manuel Locatelli.

They are not the same player in every regard; no player comparison is perfectly accurate. However, I believe Samu could effectively play the type of role Manuel Locatelli does presently for Juventus… sit deep, spray passes, shield the back line. Samu is better in the air, which is an added bonus, but is much less fluid on the ball. Plus, even though he has an excellent passing range himself, he probably only delivers about 80% of the value a truly world class distributor like Locatelli does.

I think a step up to a UCL/UEL side in Italy or Spain would be a great next step for Samu Costa… off the top of my head, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, and Roma all meet the criteria of teams that would value a midfielder of his profile, and offer a step up in challenge.

By: Spencer Mossman / @fc_mossman

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