Using Data to Find a Replacement for Dodi Lukébakio
Dodi Lukébakio currently has 11 goals and 2 assists in La Liga in 34 appearances this season and has skyrocketed Sevilla from a relegation battle to a potential European spot. Nonetheless, if Sevilla isn’t able to obtain European qualification, it may be hard to retain this sort of talent from other clubs in European competitions and fighting for titles.
In this article, we will be looking at potential replacements for Dodi Lukébakio at Sevilla. With the use of Scouting Stats AI and the McLachApp, both websites formed by football data enthusiasts on Twitter by the names of @ChicagoDmitry and @DEvansData on X, I have been able to find 3 potential replacements for Dodi Lukébakio at Sevilla.
I doubt Sevilla will earn anything less than €20 million in the case that they sell the Belgian winger. Considering this, we will be looking at players with a market value of less than €15 million.
Name: Chemsdine Talbi
Position: Right Winger/Left Winger/Attacking Midfielder
Country: Morocco
Age: 19
Height: 175cm
Preferred Foot: Right
Current Club: Club Brugge
Context: Talbi came up through the ranks of Club Brugge and has been playing for the first team since January of 2023.
Comparison of stats between Chemsdine Talbi and Dodi Lukébakio. (Mclachapp, 2025).
Before entering into the analysis, it is important to remark that Talbi’s data comes from just 500 minutes, so his numbers will probably be inflated. Nonetheless, the first observation we can make is that he is a player who likes to enter the box and get into goal-scoring positions like Lukébakio, with more than a 0.5xG per 90, which are numbers characteristic of center forwards. Furthermore, he is also able to generate opportunities for others; however, he is not as much of a dribbler as the Belgian winger and is unable to generate shots for himself which are two of Lukébakio’s most important attributes.
Shotmaps of Chemsdine Talbi and Dodi Lukébakio. (Fotmob, 2025).
Here, we can observe both players’ shot maps this year, and the first thing we can see is that Lukébakio has far more shots coming in from the right wing while Talbi’s shots are more versatile in terms of their positioning. However, it is clear that both players tend to shoot very often, which is an attribute that makes them similar.
Heatmaps of Chemsdine Talbi and Dodi Lukébakio. (Sofascore, 2025).
These images resemble each player’s positioning this season. The most notable difference between both is that Lukébakio tends to move inside far more often than Talbi, where he then looks to take a shot on his left foot. Meanwhile, the young Moroccan prefers to stay on the outside where he is more comfortable.
Overall, Talbi has a different profile to Lukébakio as he is a right-footed player which disables him to cut inside and shoot often. And, although they share some similarities, the way they achieve the numbers they obtain is quite different so Sevilla would have to change some aspects of their style of play to suit Talbi.
Name: Ernest Muçi
Position: Right Winger/Left Winger/Attacking Midfielder
Country: Albania
Age: 24
Height: 180cm
Preferred Foot: Ambidextrous
Current Club: Besiktas
Context: Muçi began his career in Albania at FK Dinamo and then moved to KF Tirana until 2021, when Legia Varsovia from Poland came paying €500k for his services. 3 years later, Besiktas paid €10 million for the winger, where he has been playing ever since.
Comparison of stats between Ernest Muçi and Dodi Lukébakio. (Fotmob, 2025).
Due to McLachapp not covering the Turkish League, we will be using Fotmob to compare both players with Lukébakio’s stats on the left while Muçi’s are on the right. At first sight, both players are quite similar, with high xG values as well as shots, which shows that both players like to try their luck often.
Furthermore, both players like to dribble often, though Lukébakio does this more often and with a higher success rate, nonetheless, within the players in his league, Muçi is in the 80th percentile. In addition, we can observe that Muçi is more involved in possession than Lukébakio with more successful passes. This shows that he is a player who likes to get involved in the play, which is an asset for Sevilla, who have a possession-based coach. Overall, both players share similar characteristics like shooting often and dribbling, while they both don’t excel in assisting their teammates.
Shotmaps of Ernest Muçi and Dodi Lukébakio. (Fotmob, 2025).
These images represent the places from where each player shoots. Both players shoot from similar positions, as we can see in the images, however, Muçi tends to do this from the left side as he is originally a left-winger. However, thanks to his ability to use both feet, he can do the same from the other wing. This can also be seen as some of his shots are from the other wing.
Heatmaps of Ernest Muçi and Dodi Lukébakio. (Sofascore, 2025).
Both photos represent the wingers’ positioning in this campaign. The most noticeable difference is that Muçi’s heatmap is mainly on the other wing opposite to the Belgian winger, however, he does occupy the same role that Lukébakio does on the right wing as they both spend most of their time on the wing, but they come inside also to shoot.
Overall, if Muçi would be able to change wings, which is seen as he is ambidextrous, it shouldn’t be an issue; then he would be a good replacement for Lukébakio as they both display similar attributes.
Name: Nicolas Kühn
Position: Right Winger/Left Winger
Country: Germany
Age: 24
Height: 174cm
Preferred Foot: Left
Current Club: Celtic
Context: Kühn passed through the academies of Wunstorf, St. Pauli, Hannover, RB Leipzig, Ajax, and Bayern Munich before reaching professional football. First, in a loan deal at Erzgebirge Aue and then Rapid Vienna on a permanent deal for €500k. After a year and a half, Celtic signed the German winger for €3.5 million in January of 2024.
Comparison of stats between Nicolas Kühn and Dodi Lukébakio. (Fotmob, 2025).
Due to the same issue present with Muçi, the data provided is from Fotmob. We can observe that both players share the same goal threat with both players shooting frequently and having high xG values. In addition, both players like to dribble frequently and have a high success rate, as well as a high number of touches in the opposition box. Furthermore, Kühn also ranks quite highly for chances generated and xA, which shows that he is also able to provide goal-scoring opportunities for his teammates rather than just pose a goal threat.
Nonetheless, it is important to note that Kühn is playing in the best team of the league in a league that has less quality. Because of that, we will also look at Kühn’s data in the Champions League, where he has just less than 800’. It is also important to note that in Europe, Celtic tends to be inferior to their opponent, and the quality of the teams is superior to that of La Liga.
Comparison of stats between Nicolas Kühn in the Champions League and Dodi Lukébakio. (Fotmob, 2025).
When looking at this data, we can observe that Kühn’s values lower significantly; however, he still obtains higher than average numbers for xG while shooting far less, as Celtic doesn’t dominate matches. In addition, he ranks quite highly for xA and is above average for successful dribbles, showing that he has the quality to play in an average Champions League team which is above that of Sevilla’s level.
Shotmaps of Nicolas Kühn and Dodi Lukébakio. (Fotmob, 2025).
Here, we can see both players’ shooting positions. It is easy to find that both players tend to shoot in very similar positions, though Lukébakio tends to shoot more from outside the box. Nonetheless, they both find positions on the edge of the box or just inside the box where they shoot very often, both players with similar xG values though Lukébakio has far more shots than the German.
Heatmaps of Nicolas Kühn and Dodi Lukébakio. (Sofascore, 2025).
These heatmaps show that both players occupy the same positions, though Kühn likes to enter the box more often, though that may be due to Celtic carrying the opposition team into a deep block. Nonetheless, both players like to be on the wing and also come inside to use their left foot and find goal-scoring opportunities.
Overall, Kühn would be an excellent replacement for Lukébakio, as we have seen he has the level to play in the Champions League and, therefore, the level to play in a La Liga side that is challenging for a European spot. Also, apart from scoring goals, he is also able to generate opportunities.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I believe that if economically possible, Nicolas Kühn would be a superb signing and add a lot to the current Sevilla side to replace the outgoing Belgian winger. However, if that is not possible, Ernest Muçi is also a good option if he is able to adapt to the other wing, or Talbi, though perhaps he is still too young to replace the Belgian, and he also has a different profile.
By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga1
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Fran Santiago / Getty Images