FC Barcelona ended the season trophyless after a season where they had won the league title with 5 games to spare. The previous manager, Xavi has left the club, welcoming Hansi Flick to the Catalan club. Dani Olmo has been the first signing for the new manager and having come from a brilliant Euro 2024 tournament being decisive for Spain winning the title, he looks set to make a stand in Barcelona. In this article, we will be investigating how Dani Olmo can make Barcelona great again after a rough patch after Lionel Messi’s departure.

Name: Dani Olmo

Position: Attacking Midfielder/Left Winger

Country: Spain

Age: 26

Height: 179cm

Preferred Foot: Right

Last Club: RB Leipzig

Dani Olmo began his career in FC Barcelona’s academy before joining Dinamo Zagreb in 2014. After one year, he joined the first team and stayed there for 5 seasons and then joined RB Leipzig where he has been for 3 years.

In this image, we can see that Dani Olmo has the least xG among the Barcelona players, nonetheless, we can see that he has more goals scored than his xG would suggest. This highlights his ability to score goals and surpass his expected goals, though, usually if his xG is lower, the number of goals will end up lower.

Here, we can see that Dani Olmo has the most assists and one of the most expected assists. This highlights his ability to generate goal-scoring opportunities which shows his quality as a player and can be something useful for Barcelona.

From this image, we can deduce that Dani Olmo has a great dribbling ability and likes to carry out these actions as seen by him attempting almost 5 dribbles per 90 with more than a 45% success rate. This highlights his dribbling ability that is not necessary for his position, nonetheless, it is something that adds value to his profile and tells us that he is an agile and nimble player.

In this image, we can see that Dani Olmo is not a player who gets very involved in the play and doesn’t drop to generate chances as a deep-lying playmaker. This is because he has one the least amount of passes without counting Fermín López with the least precision. This tells us that he likes to stay higher up the field to receive the ball and turn to attack the opposition.

This chart compares Dani Olmo with the rest of the Bundesliga 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 Olmo has great values in assists and expected assists which shows his exceptional ability to create chances. Nonetheless, he does not stand out in goals and xG and maybe if he can increase this aspect of his game, he can be considered as one of the best players in his position.

In the possession-based aspects, we can observe that Dani Olmo does not lack in any aspect and is in more than the 70th percentile in progressive ball-carrying and successful dribbles. Also, considering that he is only in the 52nd percentile for progressive passes received tells us that he does not necessarily receive the ball in the space between the back line and midfield line, but rather he likes to carry the ball in his feet to more advanced positions. This may be something that he might have to change under Hansi Flick as he will most likely have to receive the ball in that space between the lines.

Finally, looking at the defensive aspects of his game we can see that he is committed defensively and we can see that he will press with determination with him being in a high percentile for tackles and interceptions. This is an aspect that will surely be appreciated in Barcelona as they are a team that likes to press the opposition and Dani Olmo can be important for this.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Dani Olmo can be a good signing for Barcelona adding squad depth and perhaps another profile to the squad. Nonetheless, with İlkay Gündoğan, Pedri, and Fermín López who has shined in the Olympics already in the squad, he has a lot of competition and game minutes will be hard to find. He is a player that can suit Barcelona’s squad having been already successful in the Spanish national team that has a similar style to Barcelona. In addition, he has been part of Barcelona’s academy so he understands the concepts displayed in the matches, making it easy for him to adapt. He also has good defensive and offensive aspects that can be of use to Barcelona. 

However, Dani Olmo may not be the player Barcelona needs as the position of the defensive midfielder is something they lacked last year, and perhaps the money should have been spent on a player in this position. In addition, there are many quality players in his position and can stop the development of players like Fermín, furthermore, he does not have any experience in Spain’s top flight and may need to adapt 

By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Matthias Hangst – Getty Images