One of the most important figures following Villarreal’s final charge to Europe last season was Álex Baena, the top assist provider of the 2023/24 LaLiga campaign. Following that came a call-up to the Euros by Luis de la Fuente and although he didn’t participate too much, he then was pivotal in obtaining the Olympic gold medal with Spain under Santi Denia.

This season, Baena has already racked up 1 goal and 5 assists in 11 games and played a pivotal role for a Villarreal side that is challenging for top four, sitting two points behind third-placed Atlético Madrid and three above fifth-placed Osasuna (with a game in hand on both). In this article, we will be investigating Álex Baena and how he has performed so far this season.

Name: Álex Baena

Position: Attacking Midfielder/Left Winger

Country: Spain

Age: 23

Height: 174cm

Preferred Foot: Right

Álex Baena began his career at Villarreal and broke into the first team in 2020, however, due to a lack of minutes he was sent on loan to Girona in 2021. After that, he came back and has been an important player having his contract renewed until 2028. It is important to mention that although Baena has played most of his career as a midfielder, most recently he has played as a left winger so we will analyze him from this perspective without ignoring his origins.

Goals + Assists

How many goals and assists a player has shows how decisive he is and this for wingers is key as they are offensive players counted upon to have high figures in these aspects.

Here, we can observe that Álex Baena is a player that has the ability to act as a goal threat with an xG close to 0.25 per 90. Nonetheless, as we can see he has been underscoring his xG which tells us that his finishing is not up there with the best, however, the xG and the goals scored usually evens out so we will probably see him scoring more goals in the future.

In this image, we can observe that Baena has the most assists per 90 in the whole league in his position, even in front of Raphinha who is having a sensational season. This shows Baena’s impact on Villarreal and his ability to generate goal-scoring opportunities.

In the video footage, we see that Baena is rarely placed on the wing and usually comes inside to receive the ball and use his vision to play his teammates in front of goal. In fact, this is seen very often like in the image below when Villarreal recover the ball, where the ball is placed to the striker Thierno Barry who plays it first touch to Baena and then he finds the space for Baena to play him.

Crossing

Crosses are a fundamental part of how a winger plays and can also tell us the profile of the winger. If he attempts many crosses that means he likes to stay on the wing, and vice versa, if he doesn’t attempt many crosses that means he likes to play more central and in between the lines.

This image tells us that Baena is not the type of player who crosses the ball very often and this can be related to the fact that he is originally a midfielder so when Villarreal are on the ball he comes inside, leaving the wing to the full-back. Also, this tells us that Baena’s high tally of assists does not come through crosses but most probably with through balls and intricate passes.

In the video footage, we observe that although his cross volume is not particularly high, the output of his crosses are sensational. In fact, he takes the corners and the free kicks for his team which shows his ability in these situations.

Dribbling

Dribbling is usually one of the standout traits of wingers as the ability to dribble past opponents in 1vs1 situations can be very helpful for the team, and they are usually in situations to make this happen.

As we can see in this image, Álex Baena is not the sort of winger to dribble very often, nonetheless, we can see here that his success rate is the highest. This shows that he has the capacity to get past opponents using his own ability and can get suited to the characteristics wingers usually have.

Overall

This chart compares Álex Baena 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 image, we can observe that Baena is one of the best players in the league when it comes to offensive output, being above the 95th percentile in all of these aspects except for goals scored. Nonetheless, this shows that he is a decisive player who can change a match with just a few touches on the ball.

In addition, we see that he is not a player who participates excessively in the possession of his team, however, he is a very direct player considering his low percentile of touches and passes per 90. This is because he is in the 85th percentile for progressive passes and in the 87th percentile for progressive passes received. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, Álex Baena is a phenomenal player who is showing his potential under Marcelino who has found his strengths, minimizing his involvement off the ball and maximizing his importance on it. It would not be a surprise to see him leave for a large fee in the summer to a top club that competes in the Champions League because so far this season he has been one of the best players and he is still fairly young meaning he still has room for improvement.

By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Pressinphoto / Icon Sport