Is Dominic Solanke the most underrated player in the Premier League?

andersj

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He might have been a bit of a late bloomer, but his performance over the past few years seems to have flown under the radar. Once considered a huge talent in his youth, he excelled at a high level for both England and Chelsea’s underage teams.

Technically, he always looked very proficient, but in recent years he has also developed significantly physically. Standing at 6ft 2in, he used to be described as "tall and lanky," but he has bulked up considerably. Moreover, he is one of the fastest players in the Premier League, reaching a top speed of 36.1 km/h last season, the highest recorded in the league at that time. He also ranked in the top 10 for the number of sprints and pressing actions, and was in the top 5 for pressing in the final third.

His underlying statistics are impressive as well. His non-penalty expected goals (npxG) was 0.48 in the Premier League last season, according to FBref (data from OPTA), placing him in the top ten among players with more than 1,500 minutes. This is quite notable for a team like Bournemouth.

In my opinion, he is a better player than Ivan Toney. He is a few years younger and, unlike Toney, appears to be very professional. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him following a similar trajectory to Ollie Watkins if he can secure a move to a better team.
 
Personally, I don't really rate him. Apart from an age perspective, Tony is far better in my opinion.
 
GledTheRed said:
Wouldn't pay big money for ether and both clubs will want big money.
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I would not mind paying big money for a very good and proven PL-striker. And I think Solanke is just that. He is also supposed to be on as little as £72k a week.

While players like Kane and Oshimen cost around £80-100m they also command more than £300k a week. That amount to more than £80 mill over five year. Solanke will probably make around £30 mill over five year. And at, 30, towards the end of his contract he would probably have resell value.
 
I didn't think much of him earlier on in his career, but he has grown a lot as a player and has found out how to apply himself well to games. He looks confident these days, and if he has another season like last season then I expect he will be on the list of some bigger clubs. I could see a team like Spurs making a move for him.
 
I rate him. When he was with us, you could see he had all the tools of a wellrounded striker, but just couldn't make it come together at senior level. He needed the drop down to get games under his belt.

Think he has what it takes to play for a top six club.
 
Was one of the best strikers I have ever seen at youth level, not surprised to see him do incredibly well. Think he can be on par with Watkins, who is one of the best strikers in the league.
 
Definitely he is underrated by the majority but I think most people who have watched him can see he is a good player. Due to the fact he didn’t progress at the rate people maybe expected he was seen as unfulfilled potential but he has progressed at the normal rate so to speak.

I always like when a front man can get involved in the build up play and Solanke is great at this. Similar to Zirkee he isn’t as prolific as other front men might be but his skills benefit the team more in other ways. I’d like to see if he can step up a level and still produce. I feel like consistency was maybe a stick to beat him with, has he produced in critical moments?
 
Solanke had a season in the Eredivisie while Toney didn't. Case closed for United signing one of them.
 
He's the 4th best English striker but there are 5 good English strikers so it's not a bad accolade.
 
I'd be wary still. Only one good season in the PL thus far. Remains to be seen if he can keep it up but if he does I think someone will try nab him next summer as he'd push for a move.
 
If we didn't have Watkins as our #9, i'd much rather Villa splash money on Solanke than Tony.
 
this season he was great again - I think that we if signed him instead of Hojlund back in the day he would've been a very good transfer, now it's a bit late especially with Zirkzee coming in and Solanke's price tag much higher
 
He's a good out and out striker, has pace, size, can finish, good movement. I think he's good. But not good enough for a top club.
 
Red Star One said:
I posted it here before, but when we were buying Hojlund I think Solanke was probably the best choice. Wouldn’t cost more than Rasmus and he seemed ready for the next step.
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He'd probably cost similar to Højlund and it feels like we're currently seeing the best of Solanke. Højlund might still have another level or two.

If we'd signed Solanke that summer to be our main striker for the foreseeable future most United fans would have been outraged.
 
He's basically Kai Havertz with less technical ability and link up play. Very good presser, physical presence and aerial out ball, constant channel runner opening up space for others, gets into good positions but a mediocre finisher.

Looking at the stats now, he has a career 63 non-penalty goals on 81.5 npxg, which is actually far worse than Havertz in terms of finishing.
 
duffer said:
I'm not checking all of them but they even got "goals" wrong ffs!
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Maybe he included pure strikers, which excludes attackers like Salah.

Anyways those stats look wrong.
 
Have to say, thought Bournemouth overpaid Liverpool for him but he has turned out decent, looks good, 60m probably over priced but if he went to spurs, can see him been a success
 
I would counter that he is actually very overrated by some. He decent, and has enjoyed a purple patch recently, but he wasn’t good enough for Chelsea or pre-Klopp ‘pool so he won’t make it at a top 6 side now.
 
Plant0x84 said:
I would counter that he is actually very overrated by some. He decent, and has enjoyed a purple patch recently, but he wasn’t good enough for Chelsea or pre-Klopp ‘pool so he won’t make it at a top 6 side now.
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He didn't leave Chelsea because he wasn't good enough. He was a teenager that rejected a contract extension and moved to Liverpool on a free transfer.
 
TsuWave said:
I don't know, I'm checking Fbref and vs strikers the stats I've checked are matching



For strikers? He's third tied with Watkins
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Expected goals he isn't 2nd. Haaland and Isak have better xg. If it's xg per 90 mins then there are even more strikers than Solanke.

Interceptions it says he is first, you have players like Richarlison, Son, Ivan Toney, G Jesus who have more and i didn't even check the full list.

Headed goals it says 1st, from PL site players like Watkins and Wood are ahead with 5 headed goals. Solanke scored 4.

It says progressive pass % he is first. Isak played more progressive passes and also has better progressive pass % than Solanke (progressive passes/total passes).
 
Plant0x84 said:
I would counter that he is actually very overrated by some. He decent, and has enjoyed a purple patch recently, but he wasn’t good enough for Chelsea or pre-Klopp ‘pool so he won’t make it at a top 6 side now.
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He was too young and didn't have enough senior gametime under his belt to make it with us at the time. But you could see he had all the toolsets to be a top striker. Just needed time and experience to bring it together at senior level. Which he has now.

Gary Lineker had 7 senior goals in his career around the same age that Solanke left liverpool.
 
roonster09 said:
Expected goals he isn't 2nd. Haaland and Isak have better xg. If it's xg per 90 mins then there are even more strikers than Solanke.

Interceptions it says he is first, you have players like Richarlison, Son, Ivan Toney, G Jesus who have more and i didn't even check the full list.

Headed goals it says 1st, from PL site players like Watkins and Wood are ahead with 5 headed goals. Solanke scored 4.

It says progressive pass % he is first. Isak played more progressive passes and also has better progressive pass % than Solanke (progressive passes/total passes).
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They might use different metrics for some things. Not all stats sites use the same. Doesn't explain headed goals unless they're perhaps counting overall goals and not just the PL?
 
SilentWitness said:
They might use different metrics for some things. Not all stats sites use the same. Doesn't explain headed goals unless they're perhaps counting overall goals and not just the PL?
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I checked his goals in cups. He scored 2 and both of them with right foot.

This DataMB site always looked bit sketchy, stats are way different than other reputed sites.
 
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