Pablo Fornals 2018/19 – scout report

West Ham United completed the summer signing of 23-year-old Pablo Fornals from Villarreal in a deal reportedly worth 28 million Euros. 

The twice-capped Spanish international is a technically minded playmaker who can operate in a variety of midfield areas, giving the Hammers another creative presence alongside the likes of Felipe Andersen and Samir Nasri. 

As Manuel Pellegrini enters his second season in East London, the Chilean will no doubt look forward to working with Fornals craft and versatility as the Irons aim to break back into the top half of the Premier League.

This tactical analysis will examine just what Pablo Fornals will bring to the London Stadium in the 2019/2020 Premier League season.

Statistics

On the face of it, two goals and three assists in La Liga last season are not hugely impressive numbers for an advanced midfielder who racked up well over 2000 minutes. An analysis of the underlying numbers, however, is a bit kinder, with Understat’s model showing 3.92 xG, and 5.41 xA at 0.34 xG+xA per 90 minutes for the campaign. 

Factoring in Villarreal’s disappointing season, where they followed up five consecutive top six La Liga finishes with a drop to 14th place, this was far from a bad return for a player who only turned 23 in February. With Fornals weighing in with three goals and twelve assists in 2017/18, contributing to Villarreal’s fifth-placed finish at 0.43 xG+xA per 90 minutes, the young Spanish playmaker has the potential to be a real danger in the right environment and system.  

Intelligence

It is immediately clear when watching Pablo Fornals play that he is an extremely intelligent player. At 5ft 8in (178 cm), and just over 10 stone (67 kg), he is not physically imposing, yet like so many Spanish playmakers before him he has developed excellent awareness, perception and vision where his slight frame and low centre of gravity are used to his advantage.

His awareness of where space is, body orientation, first touch and awareness (especially of third player movements) bear all the hallmarks of a player developed in a very Spanish way with the use of rondos and positional games.

Fornals has been used across the midfield, and in 2018/19 he lined up both as a number ten and in wider starting positions. The principles of his game, however, remain where he looks to receive the ball in advanced positions and create play.

First Touch 

In this example, Fornals has taken up a central position in between the block, where he has attracted the attention of three opponents. Realising he can’t simply play on the turn immediately, he takes the ball safe side with a soft first touch, fakes to pass backwards to fool an opponent and then moves away from immediate pressure.

The orientation and quality of his first touch, and cleverly losing an opponent with by faking to pass backwards has now created an element of separation. With two opponents lost, he has given himself the time and space to be able to deliver an inch-perfect through pass for Samuel Chukwueze, with whom he enjoys a fruitful on-pitch relationship.