Villarreal had a poor start to the season and was saved by a fantastic run of form in the last months under new manager Marcelino García Toral. Nonetheless, because of the departures of Francis Coquelin, Manu Trigueros, and EtienneCapoue have all ended their contracts, meaning they need a player to start next to Dani Parejo. For this, they have signed Pape Gueye on a free transfer. In this article, we will be taking a deep dive into how Pape Gueye can improve this Villarreal side.

Name: Pape Gueye

Position: Defensive Midfielder/Center Midfielder

Age: 25

Country: Senegal

Height: 189cm

Preferred Foot: Left

Last Club: Olympique de Marseille

Gueye began his career in Le Havre’s academy and played in the first team for two seasons before joining Olympique de Marseille. At Marseille, he played for two and a half seasons before being loaned out to Sevilla and then staying for one more year at the club.

In this image, we can see that Gueye does not have the quality of a Dani Parejo as although he has many passes attempted he has the lowest precision. This shows that his ability to progress the ball into more advanced areas through passing is not one of his strengths. However, having made many forward passes means that he has confidence in his passing and if he can improve his precision, he can become an important player for Villarreal.

In this image, we can see that Gueye has outstanding defensive qualities as he participates in the most defensive duels per 90 and has the second-most success rate. This is key for a defensive midfielder and having a player in midfield with that ability to win defensive duels is welcome in any squad.

Here we can observe that Gueye has an exceptional ability to win aerial duels with the second-most success rate and participation in aerial duels. This highlights his ability to win the ball in the air which is crucial for a defensive midfielder and especially in teams that want to have the ball as when counter-pressing and pressing occurs, the opposition will play in long and this position is counted upon to win those duels.

This chart compares Pape Gueye with the rest of the players in his league that play in his position using percentiles in different aspects of the game. The percentiles work in the way that the higher the number the better he is in that aspect of the game, for example, if the value is 87, that means he is better than 87% of the players he is compared to.

In the chart, we can observe that Gueye excels in most of the defensive situations with an above 90th percentile in 4 of them. This showcases Gueye’s exceptional defending capacity which is of huge importance for players that play in his position. Moreover, we can see that in the possession aspects he is no expert as although he has a high percentile in progressive passes, his percentile in passes attempted and precision of passes is quite poor. Overall, he has a similar profile to Ederson at Atalanta, Christian Norgaard at Brentford, and Benjamin André at Lille.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Gueye is an exceptional signing for Villarreal as he will most likely play alongside Dani Parejo, and in that position, he can flourish as he can take care of the defensive actions, while Parejo is more active in the build-up. This would help both players minimize their weaknesses and flourish their strengths. All in all, this signing could be very important and help their chase to earn qualification to European competitions as he also has experience in La Liga having played at Sevilla already.

By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / FEP / Icon Sport