Using Data to Find the Best U23 Wingers in LaLiga
With the summer transfer window incoming, clubs are beginning to scout the best young players who are showing signs of potential. This is a data analysis to find the best U23 wingers in La Liga that will be fought over in the summer.
The data metrics we will be looking at are:
- Key Plays/Assists
- Goals
- Crossing
- Dribbling
Furthermore, all the wingers in the charts have more than 400 minutes under their belt this season.
We will begin by forming scatter plots of the data metrics mentioned beforehand, to find the level of the wingers aged 23 and under, compared to the rest of the wingers in the league. In this manner, we can identify how they are performing and decide which wingers clubs should be keeping an eye on. Later, we will find the best wingers depending on how they perform in the scatter plots and we will look at each one individually.
Key Plays
The amount of key plays and xA a winger has tells us about his ability to generate opportunities for his teammates.
Goals
How many goals 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 this aspect.
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.
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.
Results
In our final results, we can observe that the best U23 wingers so far in La Liga have been Raúl Moro of Valladolid, Bryan Zaragoza of Osasuna, Nico Williams of Athletic Club, Álex Baena of Villareal, and Lamine Yamal of Barcelona.
Raúl Moro
Position: Left Winger/Right Winger
Country: Spain
Age: 22
Height: 169cm
Preferred Foot: Right
Current Club: Valladolid
Context: Moro began his youth career at Manresa until Espanyol and later Barcelona would come for him. After just one year in Barcelona, he joined Lazio where he played just one season in their first team going on a series of loans to Ternana, Real Oviedo, and finally Real Valladolid, who then made his transfer permanent for €2 million.
The charts present a player who has a great ability to beat defenders using his dribbling with a high volume of dribbles and a high completion rate. In addition, his capacity to cross the ball is excellent also with a high number and success rate.
Moreover, he ranks highly in key plays and expected assists which shows that he is able to generate goal-scoring opportunities for his teammates which makes him a decisive player. However, his xG is quite low telling us that he does not enter the box very often to position himself to score.
This chart compares Raúl Moro 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%.
Here, we can observe that Moro ranks very highly in the dribbling aspects showing his ability on the ball. Furthermore, he is in the 92nd percentile for crosses into the penalty area as well as in the 74th for expected assists which shows that he is capable of making opportunities for the forwards.
Overall, Moro is having a wonderful season despite his team being last and if Valladolid gets relegated, I have no doubt that Moro will continue at the elite level at the hands of a team that is aspiring for Europe.
Bryan Zaragoza
Position: Left Winger/Right Winger
Country: Spain
Age: 23
Height: 164cm
Preferred Foot: Right
Current Club: Osasuna
Context: Bryan Zaragoza was brought up through the ranks of Granada going on just one loan spell at El Ejido before reaching the first team in 2022. There he played for 1 year and a half until Bayern Munich came and spent €13 million to sign the young winger, however, after half a season with limited game time in Germany, he was sent on loan to Osasuna.
The scatter plots tell us that Bryan Zaragoza’s best attribute is his dribbling, having a very high success rate considering the amount of dribbles he attempts and is among Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal in this respect. In addition, his crossing is excellent having a high success rate with a large volume of crosses showing his ability to pick out players in the box.
Zaragoza’s output is quite good as well having a high tally of xA and xG while also producing key plays frequently showing that he is decisive for his team, and Osasuna have really felt his injury with a poor run of form.
This chart compares Bryan Zaragoza 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 chart, we can observe that Zaragoza’s dribbling attributes are remarkable, ranking very high in each of the metrics measured. Furthermore, he is in the 99th percentile for crosses into the penalty area showing that his ability to cross the ball effectively is excellent.
However, in his shot creation aspects, we can see that he falls quite low below average with his xG + xA just in the 33rd percentile. In addition, in the shot-creating actions metric he lies just above average. Overall, Bryan Zaragoza has some exceptional technical qualities with some excellent dribbling and crossing, nonetheless, his output in goals and assists is quite low and probably something he will need to improve.
Nico Williams
Position: Left Winger/Right Winger
Country: Spain
Age: 22
Height: 181cm
Preferred Foot: Right
Current Club: Athletic Club
Context: Nico Williams was signed by Athletic Club’s youth system in 2013 from Osasuna and since then he has remained at the club playing regularly for the first team since 2021.
Just like Bryan Zaragoza, Nico Williams’ best attribute is his dribbling where he attempts many of these while still having quite a high success rate considering the latter. Moreover, his crossing is also quite good with a high success rate and volume. Furthermore, his xG and xA values are quite high showing that he can be decisive for his club, and he can also produce key plays frequently.
This chart compares Nico Williams 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%.
The numbers in this chart are very impressive exposing his dribbling capacity where he ranks very highly, as well as in his crosses and key passes metrics. Another interesting aspect that we can see is that he is in the 94th percentile for progressive passes received which is a testament to his movement off the ball showing he is intelligent with his runs, whereas a player like Bryan Zaragoza did seem to lack in this aspect.
In addition, he ranks in the 90th and 81st percentile respectively for shot-creating actions and SCA (completed live-ball passes that lead to a shot) showing that he is very capable of generating opportunities for his teammates despite the fact that he is below average in expected assists.
Overall, Nico Williams is a magnificent player who despite not reaching the level of output he had last year, is still key to Athletic Club this season who are having an excellent campaign currently 4th in the league and still in the Europa League. He will definitely have many clubs looking to pay for his services in the summer, there we will see if he prefers personal glory or if he will remain with his brother at the Basque club.
Álex Baena
Position: Left Winger/Attacking Midfielder/Right Winger
Country: Spain
Age: 23
Height: 174cm
Preferred Foot: Right
Current Club: Villarreal
Context: Baena began in Villarreal’s youth system and after one season with limited minutes in the first team he went on loan to Girona which then changed his career at Villarreal where he is now essential and a starter.
Baena is not the typical winger who likes to dribble past players, in fact, he is below average when it comes to dribbling despite his high success rate. Nonetheless, he does seem to have an eye for a cross having high precision and volume in this remark.
However, his best attribute comes from his ability to generate opportunities where he is besides Raphinha the best player in the league so far in this aspect ranking very highly for both xA and key plays produced. In addition, he also has the ability to participate to score goals, appearing quite high in xG.
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%.
Despite this chart comparing Baena’s numbers with those of midfielders rather than those of wingers and attacking midfielders, I doubt that they will lower severely. Nonetheless, the numbers seen here are a testament to his performances this season where he has been one of the best offensive players in the league being in the top 1% for xG and xA, goal-creating actions, and shot-creating actions as well as key passes, through balls, and passes into the penalty area.
Overall, Baena is having an extraordinary season with the level of being a top Champions League level player which the top clubs should be keeping an eye on especially if Villareal doesn’t make the top 4 which would then incline him to leave his boyhood club.
Lamine Yamal
Position: Right Winger/Left Winger
Country: Spain
Age: 17
Height: 180cm
Preferred Foot: Left
Current Club: Barcelona
Context: Lamine Yamal came up through the ranks of Barcelona and has been playing since last season in the first team, as well as in the Spanish National Team where he was key to win Euro 2024 in the summer.
Yamal’s numbers speak for themselves, at just 17 years of age he appears as the best playmaker behind Baena and Raphinha. In addition, his xG tally is quite high showing his ability to position himself in goal-scoring positions showing that he is a decisive player who can put up high tallies in his goal contributions.
Furthermore, his dribbling ability is exceptional being the player who attempts the most dribbles per 90 in the league while still having a high success rate. In addition, his crossing is quite good with a high precision and volume.
This chart compares Lamine Yamal 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%.
This chart shows Yamal’s exceptional numbers being in the 97th percentile for xG and xA as well as in the 92nd for shot-creating actions, a testament to his ability to generate opportunities and be a determining factor in the outcome of a match. Moreover, we can see he is in the 97th percentile for successful take-ons as well as in the 92nd and 88th for carries into the penalty area and progressive carries respectively showing his ability on the ball to take defenders out of the game.
Finally, we can also observe that he appears in the top 1% for progressive passes received which talks about his remarkable off-the-ball movement to receive passes in dangerous positions. Overall, Lamine Yamal is one of the best wingers in Europe if not the best, and at just 17 years of age, he can be the next icon of Barcelona since Messi left. It would be very strange to see him leave the Catalonian club unless their financial difficulties deepen.
By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga1
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Quality Sport Images / Getty Images