At Southampton, the trend of securing last-minute deals in recent seasons has been very familiar to the fans.
The likes of Toby Alderweireld and Danny Ings all arrived during the last hours of the window.
And this summer, they continued that trend by bringing in a new centre-back.
Within the deadline day, no Southampton fans would have thought about a new signing arriving at St. Mary’s Stadium.
In a press conference just a few hours before the deadline, Ralph Hasenhüttl hinted about the work that the team had going on in the background.
Because no reports were linking the club to a single name on the market, the fans were thinking about the departures of Charlie Austin and Harrison Reed.
Eventually, the deadline passed, and the news broke to the public as Southampton were one of the clubs that submitted the “deal sheet”.
It would allow the club to have more time to negotiate for a potential deal coming through.
A few hours later, the identity of that player was leaked when several journalists mentioned Kevin Danso.
The rumours were confirmed on the next day with the ‘Ralph Express’ heading for its final destination, Augsburg, Germany.
In this scout report, we will use tactical analysis to provide an analysis on what Danso will bring to the club.
Meanwhile, using statistics and footage, we will predict how he will fit into Hasenhüttl’s tactics.
Kevin Danso Style Of Play
Kevin Danso is quite familiar to England, having spent the early days of his career playing for MK Dons alongside Dele Alli.
He was even a striker among Reading’s youth ranks earlier on before shifting into the central area of the pitch.
In 2014, the Austrian-Ghanaian defender moved to Augsburg to continue his development.
Furthermore, he did have a trip back to England with the German side, and his destination was Southampton’s St. Mary’s Stadium in 2017.
The two sides had a friendly match before The Saints’ Premier League campaign and the eventual result leant towards Danso’s team.
Two years later, he joined the South Coast side on a one-year loan deal with an obligation to make it permanent, similar to Ings and Alderweireld’s situations.
As a natural ball-playing defender, he possesses the qualities and attributes that are needed to play in that position.
Comfortable on the ball, able to make short and long passes to his teammates and decent in completing his defensive works.
In the Bundesliga last season, he registered an average of 37.77 passes (with an accuracy rate of 82.5%) and 18.1 forward passes (73.65%) per 90 minutes.
In terms of defending, Danso made 5.91 defensive duels per 90 and won 67.89% of them.
He also had 0.49 tackles and 7.53 interceptions per 30 possessions for the opposition (tackles/opp.30).
Kevin Danso Defensive responsibilities
Under Manuel Baum at Augsburg, the players usually formed a 4-5-1 defensive structure when they weren’t controlling possession.
They sat back to prevent the opposition from making dangerous passes into their half.
The player
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