Gueye compares rather well to Dier and Wanyama

TRANSFER TALK

The Daily Mail tell us that Tottenham Hotspur 'could' trigger the £7.1m release clause in the contract of Idrissa Gueye and go on to say that Marseille are the front runners for his signature. Finally, they say the player wants to stay in the Premier league, I bet he does the wages are bigger.

Ther story has three points, two of which are undoubtedly wrong. Firstly Marseille are flat broke, they can not afford to pay $3.1 million for a player, they have to raise £31.22-million by 20 June, not would like to, they have to, no ifs no buts, they have to. So they are the front runners to cough up £7.1 million are they? What utter garbage.

Secondly, there is no way Spurs are going to offer £7.1 million for a 26-year-old (27 in September) Championship player. The Senegalese international right-footed defensive midfielder plays in the same position as Victor Wanyama who only has a year left on his contract at Southampton, who is refusing to sign another and told the club he wants to move to Spurs. Saints, of course, like to overcharge for their players (doesn't everyone) but you would think we could thrash out a fee given his contract induced depreciation.

I'm sure Aston Villa would love £7.1 million for him, but as he would be sitting on the bench watching Dier and Dembele I simply don't see it, especially as Pochettino will be looking at Dominic Ball in that position in pre-season.

His agent spoke to a Senegalese press agency after the last game and told them that his client will not be at Aston Villa next season.

“He will almost certainly be at another Premier League club, if not, then the Bundesliga.”

Tony Martin is a sensible Villa fan on Twitter so I asked him about Gueye, he is far more likely than me to know how he really plays, watching him every week.

"Very decent player. He looked solid even in our side. I think he won more tackles than anyone in the Premier League last season and was near the top on interception table. On the downside he picked up the most bookings but overall a very useful midfielder who I would like to hang on to, but I think there is a clause in his contract."

Let's head across to the Squawka Comparison Matrix and see how they compare. First, we'll look at the total number of passes, then the total number of forward passes.



Idrissa Gueye forward passing percentage: 62.02%
Eric Dier forward passing percentage: 68.12%
Victor Wanyama forward passing percentage: 64.23%

We can see that Eric Dier looks to move the ball forward more rather than sideways and backwards. Forward passes are more dangerous, given that you are playing the ball towards the opposition so how successful were the three with their passing?

Idrissa Gueye pass completion: 85%
Eric Dier pass completion: 83%
Victor Wanyama pass completion: 82%

Those figures confirm the generally held view that Wanyama is primarily a defensive defensive midfielder, unlike Mousa Dembele who you would call more attacking but very capable of the defensive element he has to have in his game. That suggest that playing Wanyama and Dier together makes us very solid but diminishes our attacking threat.

Those calling them the perfect pair may need to be careful what they wish for, unless of course Dier is going to play the most adventurous role. I see it far more as one or the other and both perhaps when we need to defend a lead, or away from home. They are perhaps not the best pairing to play at home. It depends on how we want to attack the UEFA Champions League as to how we set up the team.

The sam perhaps applies to Idrissa Gueye, those statistics suggest he is more suited to the Dier role rather than the Dembele role. Adding in chances created, though, displays Gueye as having a far greater impact going forward than Wanyama.

Idrissa Gueye chances created: 28
Eric Dier chances created: 18
Victor Wanyama chances created: 15

These modern for a defensive midfielder is about shadowing player to wide areas and making interceptions as opposed to the traditional tackling, which Michel Platini did his best to take out of the game completely. Now we are subjected to feigning injury, diving, placing one's leg in an area where contact can be made and falling over. It's all cheating basically.

Still how do they compare defensively when tackling?

Idrissa Gueye number of tackles and tackle success: 221 - 48.87%
Eric Dier number of tackles and tackle success: 140 - 45.71%
Victor Wanyama number of tackles and tackle success: 163 - 43.56%


The aerial duels Dier comes out on top, Wanyama comes last once again and despite Tony suggesting Gueye picks up a lot of cards, as you would in his position in a side fighting relegation, he picked up the same number as Dier.

Lastly the interceptions, blocks, and clearances where there are big differences.



Looking at those figures and the rest you would read on those that Gueye is a better bet than Wanyama. Spurs do use a lot of statistics in recruitment as every side does these days. Scouting has changed with the advent of the Internet, the first thing is to analyse data and highlight players from there that might be of interest.

Statistically, it is no surprise we have been linked and it is no surprise he is on our long list of players to keep an eye on.

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