Juanmi Latasa has not quite reached the expectations made of him at Getafe after two seasons on loan. Now, the Real Madrid youngster is joining Real Valladolid where he is hoping to put his career back on track. In this article, we will be investigating how Juanmi Latasa can improve Real Valladolid and be the final piece needed for them to stay in the first division.

Name: Juanmi Latasa

Position: Center Forward

Age: 23

Country: Spain

Height: 192cm

Preferred Foot: Left

Last Club: Real Madrid

Latasa began his career in Real Madrid’s youth system and in 2022 joined Getafe on loan which was also repeated last season. Nonetheless, in these two seasons in La Liga he has only scored 3 league goals.

Last season, Latasa scored only 2 league goals, nonetheless, his expected goals suggests that he should have scored more than double that amount and with time this will even out so he will score more goals in the future if he can keep his xG high. As well, we can also observe that he has fewer expected goals than Sylla, though these numbers are very similar.

In this image, we can observe that both strikers have less than 0.1 xG per 90 meaning that this is not one of the strengths of the strikers and they are both more focused on getting in the box and scoring rather than creating chances.

Here, we can observe that Latasa is not a very agile player who likes to dribble but rather he avoids them and highlights that this is not one of his strengths.

From this image, we can deduce that neither striker gets very involved in possession, and instead of dropping to receive the ball they prefer to remain higher up the pitch. 

Here, we can observe that Latasa’s ability to win aerial duels is outstanding with more than 16 aerial duels per 90 and close to a 50% success rate. This suggests that he is a target man who likes to stay high and fight in the air to win aerial duels which is one of his strengths. This can be important for Real Valladolid as having a player up top who can win aerial duels easily can be a huge asset and can allow more attacking alternatives for manager Paulo Pezzollano.

This chart compares Juanmi Latasa with the rest of other 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 Latasa has very poor attacking outputs with a low amount of expected goals and assists. This shows that he is not a player who can be counted upon to score the goals necessary to stay up and avoid relegation. In addition, he is not the most active player in possession being in the 53rd percentile for passes attempted and in the 58th for touches. This is clearly not one of Latasa’s strengths and it shows that he is not a player suited to be in a side that wants to have the ball.

Finally, as seen before Latasa’s only strength is his ability in the air as he is in the 91st percentile for aerial duels won. This can allow Real Valladolid to kick the ball long and know that there is a player that is going to win the ball and that is something that can be a big help for a newly promoted club.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Juanmi Latasa is a very average player who does allow Real Valladolid to play in another way, nonetheless, he does not have the ability to score many goals needed for Valladolid to not get relegated. This has been seen by the limited goal tally he has in his past season in La Liga scoring only 2 goals and is not a player that adds a lot to Real Valladolid apart from his ability in the air.

However, he does have experience in the top-flight, having impressed for Getafe, and at 23, he’s far away from reaching his prime. Latasa came on for the final half-hour of their 0-0 draw vs. fellow promoted side Leganés before entering in the 56th minute of a 7-0 shellacking at Barcelona, whilst he played in the entirety of their 3-1 loss to Celta de Vigo, starting up top alongside Ivan Cantalejo.

By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Angel Martinez / Getty Images