Manuel Locatelli is a 23 year old midfielder playing for Sassuolo and Italy. He has not received much attention outside of Italy (I think?), but I feel confident that is about to change.
He startet out at Milan, but moved to Sassuolo in 2018 on a loan to get more games. The move was made permanent in 2019 and he has not looked back since. I think he was always considered a big talent as name pops on quite a few old articles about young talents. He was also heavily capped for Italy at U17, U19 and U21 (not sure I have ever seen someone with more caps at this level).
I first noticed him at Sassuolo and liked him right from the start. But has really developed since then and since I dont watch that much Serie A-football I always get impressed of how much he continues to improve.
I would argue that he probably is among the top five midfielders in the top 5 leagues in Europe in terms of passing. He stands out in a number of metrics.
While not a very interesting stat, there is only three midfielders who makes more passes per 90 min; N’Zonzi, Rodri and Frenkie. He is followed by Parejo and Henderson. In my opinion this is a group of players that constitute a nice benchmark when you want to look into a midfielder’s ability as a passer.
His completion rate at 86,9 % is a bit lower than the rest of the midfielders, with the exception of Henderson (85,8 %). Compared to Nzonzi and Rodri both Henderson and Locatelli appears to be more attacking and progressive in their passing.
Each pass on average travel the following distance (yards) for each player. I’ve also added the number of yards forward they move the ball for each pass;
Nzonzi - 19,3 - 5,11
Frenkie - 17,25 - 4,87
Rodri - 20,5 - 4,38
Parejo - 19,8 - 5,85
Henderson - 20,2 - 5,38
Locatelli - 19,2 - 5,37
There is not much between them and the only outlier is Rodri. He do not move the ball forward much compared to the others. (There could be a number of good reasons.)
Among these players only Henderson completes more passes into the penalty box and into the final third than Locatelli. You could argue that Henderson benefits from playing in a better and more attacking team. Both Parejo and Frenkie comes really close too! (Passes into the final third first, then into the penalty area, from open play only.)
Nzonzi - 8,3 - 0,19
Frenkie - 6,73 - 1,11
Rodri - 8,09 - 0,64
Parejo - 7,59 - 0,89
Henderson - 12,8 - 1,83
Locatelli - 8,78 - 1,16
The numbers, of course, only give you part of the story. They are influenced by the quality and style of the team they play for and the task they are given. The same is obviously the case when watching a player play. But I like the combination, watching the player play and looking into their numbers to test my hypothesis.
The big difference between Locatelli and our midfielders is the amount of passes they make per 90 min, and the amount of passes per 90 min they make into the penalty box. While I initially said that the amount of passes is not an interesting stat, it can tell you something. Keane, Scholes, Xavi, Pirlo etc always came out on top of that statistic. Why? Because they made themself available for a pass and their team preferred building through them.
My impression of Locatelli is that he, like several of the other midfielders I compared him to, is a «ball metronome». Someone who absorbs the ball, and distribute it quick and efficiently with purpose. A player who would improve our build up play and transistion from defence to attack vastly. We used to have midfielders like that in the middle of the pitch. Scholes, Carrick, Keane and Robson to name a few. We hoped Pogba could be a player like that but he just could not do that. Maybe he can, but its just not him. He wants to express himself. Be creative. And to do that he need to be able to take risk.
The amount of passes and touches Locatelli has makes him a dominating midfielder in (the deeper area of the) midfield. But it is not just that. Locatelli is not another Jorginho. He is a tough, aggressive and physical midfielder who is really good at protecting the defence. And he is a vocal leader on the pitch. I could make that case by showing you his heat map and defensive metrics like tackles and interceptions. But since football is a lot more entertaining than numbers, I suggest that anyone who would like to enjoy a really good midfielder try to check him out for Sassuolo or Italy.
The fact that he is a dominating force at such a young age, 23 on friday (Happy Birthday), in a very competetive league makes him one hell of a prospect. The fact that he plays in Sassuolo, probably making him available, should make alarm bells go off. I’m sure we will see him at Juventus soon.
He startet out at Milan, but moved to Sassuolo in 2018 on a loan to get more games. The move was made permanent in 2019 and he has not looked back since. I think he was always considered a big talent as name pops on quite a few old articles about young talents. He was also heavily capped for Italy at U17, U19 and U21 (not sure I have ever seen someone with more caps at this level).
I first noticed him at Sassuolo and liked him right from the start. But has really developed since then and since I dont watch that much Serie A-football I always get impressed of how much he continues to improve.
I would argue that he probably is among the top five midfielders in the top 5 leagues in Europe in terms of passing. He stands out in a number of metrics.
While not a very interesting stat, there is only three midfielders who makes more passes per 90 min; N’Zonzi, Rodri and Frenkie. He is followed by Parejo and Henderson. In my opinion this is a group of players that constitute a nice benchmark when you want to look into a midfielder’s ability as a passer.
His completion rate at 86,9 % is a bit lower than the rest of the midfielders, with the exception of Henderson (85,8 %). Compared to Nzonzi and Rodri both Henderson and Locatelli appears to be more attacking and progressive in their passing.
Each pass on average travel the following distance (yards) for each player. I’ve also added the number of yards forward they move the ball for each pass;
Nzonzi - 19,3 - 5,11
Frenkie - 17,25 - 4,87
Rodri - 20,5 - 4,38
Parejo - 19,8 - 5,85
Henderson - 20,2 - 5,38
Locatelli - 19,2 - 5,37
There is not much between them and the only outlier is Rodri. He do not move the ball forward much compared to the others. (There could be a number of good reasons.)
Among these players only Henderson completes more passes into the penalty box and into the final third than Locatelli. You could argue that Henderson benefits from playing in a better and more attacking team. Both Parejo and Frenkie comes really close too! (Passes into the final third first, then into the penalty area, from open play only.)
Nzonzi - 8,3 - 0,19
Frenkie - 6,73 - 1,11
Rodri - 8,09 - 0,64
Parejo - 7,59 - 0,89
Henderson - 12,8 - 1,83
Locatelli - 8,78 - 1,16
The numbers, of course, only give you part of the story. They are influenced by the quality and style of the team they play for and the task they are given. The same is obviously the case when watching a player play. But I like the combination, watching the player play and looking into their numbers to test my hypothesis.
The big difference between Locatelli and our midfielders is the amount of passes they make per 90 min, and the amount of passes per 90 min they make into the penalty box. While I initially said that the amount of passes is not an interesting stat, it can tell you something. Keane, Scholes, Xavi, Pirlo etc always came out on top of that statistic. Why? Because they made themself available for a pass and their team preferred building through them.
My impression of Locatelli is that he, like several of the other midfielders I compared him to, is a «ball metronome». Someone who absorbs the ball, and distribute it quick and efficiently with purpose. A player who would improve our build up play and transistion from defence to attack vastly. We used to have midfielders like that in the middle of the pitch. Scholes, Carrick, Keane and Robson to name a few. We hoped Pogba could be a player like that but he just could not do that. Maybe he can, but its just not him. He wants to express himself. Be creative. And to do that he need to be able to take risk.
The amount of passes and touches Locatelli has makes him a dominating midfielder in (the deeper area of the) midfield. But it is not just that. Locatelli is not another Jorginho. He is a tough, aggressive and physical midfielder who is really good at protecting the defence. And he is a vocal leader on the pitch. I could make that case by showing you his heat map and defensive metrics like tackles and interceptions. But since football is a lot more entertaining than numbers, I suggest that anyone who would like to enjoy a really good midfielder try to check him out for Sassuolo or Italy.
The fact that he is a dominating force at such a young age, 23 on friday (Happy Birthday), in a very competetive league makes him one hell of a prospect. The fact that he plays in Sassuolo, probably making him available, should make alarm bells go off. I’m sure we will see him at Juventus soon.
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