In recent times, Barcelona have made two transfer announcements out of nowhere. In 2017 Paulinho arrived from Chinese Super League outfit Guangzhou Evergrande, and at the beginning of this season his fellow Brazilian Malcom was snapped up from under Romas noses. After this, more left-field announcements were surely possible. However, the signing of Kevin-Prince Boateng from Sassuolo has surprised everyone. In this analysis, we use statistics to see if and how Boateng could help Valverde’s Barcelona.
Overview
Boateng is the first Ghana international to play for Barcelona. Having played for clubs such as AC Milan and Schalke, Boateng is very experienced. He is a physical player. His physical strength is a very predominant part of his style of play. However, he doesnt possess great dribbling ability. Good shielding, hold-up play and decision making are part of his arsenal. These things make him a more than capable player to come off the bench.
Why Barcelona need Boateng
Barcelona recently sold La Masia graduate Munir to Sevilla. This, along with Paco Alcacers departure to Borussia Dortmund, left Barcelona with just one genuine striker. Lionel Messi can play centre forward, but he and Luis Suarez are not enough when Barcelona are competing on all fronts.
The other option was promoting Barcelona B striker, Abel Ruiz. However, it would be difficult for him to live up to a great standard all of a sudden in the middle of the season. So what exactly did Barcelona need? Essentially, a striker who could easily fit in and adapt, who had experience playing at a certain level and who would be good enough to help them resolve their lack of squad depth. On paper, Boateng is a very good fit.
Boateng’s profile
Kevin-Prince Boateng is the brother of Bayern Munich player Jerome Boateng. He usually plays as a centre forward. However, he has been deployed as a midfielder recently.
Barcelona most often have three in the attack. They are usually Messi, Suarez and either Coutinho or Dembele. As we see, Messi and Suarez hardly get any rest. To solve this Boateng would play as a centre forward. He has 0.8 shot assists on average per match. Were he to hold the ball up, Coutinho and Dembele could play on either side of him and make runs whom he could pass to.
At 1.86m tall, Boateng is well built and very good physically. This allows him to hold up the ball and pass it to any players making runs. This holds up play could help many assets of Barcelona’s attack. Hence, he would be a good fit in Barcelonas attack rather than in the already crowded midfield.
