Saul Niguez scout report: Will jack of all trades midfielder fit Koeman’s Barcelona?

Even though the deal is currently on hold, if the reports are to be believed, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are negotiating an Antoine Griezmann for Saul Niguez swap. As weird as it may sound, the Frenchman might be heading back to the Wanda Metropolitano while the Catalans could add another midfielder into the fold.

But how exactly, if at all, does Saúl fit Barcelona’s tactics and what kind of a profile of a player is he? This tactical analysis will aim to answer those questions, providing you with a scout report and a thorough analysis of the 26-year-old and his suitability to the Azulgrana system.

Player overview

Saúl is a 26-year-old central midfielder with a well-rounded profile and wide palette of abilities. Standing at 1.84m and weighing 75kg, he is not the most physically imposing player but one with a huge engine and incredible work rate. He likes to be deployed on the left side of the pitch, complimenting the strong preference of his left foot, but has been played all over the pitch, from across the midfield, the forward line and even at full-back.

Below you can see Saúl’s player profile through data. Note that all bar graphs show percentile rankings while per 90 minutes figures can be seen in the table below.

What we can gather from the data analysis is that Saúl is indeed decent at almost everything but sadly, elite in very few metrics. His attacking and defensive profiles are, however, rather impressive and do well to paint a picture of an effective box-to-box midfielder. His tendency to make off the ball runs and provide an offensive outlet in the box result in high touches in the box, shots and expected goals per 90 (xG).

Similarly, despite the recent decline in form, Saúl still tallies more shot assists, deep completions, passes to the penalty area and xA than an average La Liga midfielder. When it comes to passing, however, he ranks below or just around the league median, which is not a good look for someone who’s striving to sign for Barcelona.