Finding the next Eberechi Eze early instead of paying a premium

Eberechi Eze has a bit of a unique profile. If you’re looking for a right-footed winger/midfielder tweener who provides positive passing value and shooting volume, there simply aren’t that many of them lying around.

Earlier this week in Part 2 of the Arsenal rebuild, we took a look at what Eze does well and why Arsenal are interested in signing him, even though he’s 27 years old and his numbers don’t quite pop off the page. If you’re an Arsenal fan wondering who else the Gunners might be looking into, I also recommend this long read from Billy Carpenter detailing just about every top 5 league winger they could have possibly scouted.

Carpenter has details on a lot of very good players who could improve Arsenal, but the only ones who match Eze’s output and are playing in the top 5 leagues are either very much not for sale or prohibitively expensive. It also feels like the ship has sailed on Eze — he wants Arsenal, Arsenal want him, and Crystal Palace are willing to negotiate.

So I got to thinking, who’s the next Eberechi Eze? This doesn’t matter to Arsenal, who need a player who can improve their squad right now, but it might matter to Palace and other teams with Palace-like budgets and pulling power.

I looked for right-footed left wingers and 10s in smaller leagues who had 0.25 xG, 0.15 open play xA, 0.11 Pass OBV, and 3 line-breaking passes into the attacking half per 90 minutes. The return was tiny, and the numbers had to be dialed down slightly, but I still found quite a few guys that I’d hope bottom-half Prem teams have eyes on.

Only guy who made the cutoffs — Bénie Traoré, FC Basel

Bénie Traoré is definitely more of a true winger than an Eze type, but I felt like I had to include him because he is the only player who made all the Eze stat cutoffs without dialing any of them down. He had an outstanding debut season for Basel, tallying 13 goals and 8 assists while doing this:

If you’re an English football fan and the name sounds familiar, it might be because he’s a former Sheffield United player. It didn’t work out there for him, and he went on loan to Nantes in France before being sold to Basel for £4m last summer. The Blades appear to have done an oopsie.

Stylistically closest — Oscar Gloukh, FC Salzburg

Gloukh has been a regular starter for Salzburg for a couple years and very much on the radar of bigger league clubs, but he put together his best campaign last year. I think the most impressive thing about his game is how two-footed he is — Gloukh has scored some bangers from the edge of the box with both feet.

The numbers are a bit inflated by the league he plays in, but from watching him I do think that Gloukh would provide above average passing, shooting, and dribbling value to a team in a top league.

He turned down a proposed winter move to Marseille, and has been linked to a £20m transfer to Leeds this summer. I think it would be an absolute coup for them, and would be surprised if they didn’t find themselves battling big teams from the continent.

One for the size obsessed — Luka Stojković, Dinamo Zagreb

Stojković has been a regular in senior football for a while, but fell off the radar last season when he tore his ACL shortly after moving from Lokomotiva to the more famous Zagreb club. But he worked his way back into the lineup this season, and put up very impressive numbers in his first year after a return from that serious injury.

Premier League clubs seem increasingly concerned about whether players have the physical strength to hang in the league, and no one will have that worry about Stojković. He’s 182cm (6’0”) and built.

Not moving, watch him this year — Livan Burcu, Magdeburg/Union Berlin

Just yesterday, Union Berlin announced that Livan Burcu has signed a contract extension and would be part of their first team this season. It’ll be his first in the Bundesliga, following a loan to 2. Bundesliga side Magdeburg last year. His shooting appears to need some work — his shot OBV was poor and he scored just 3 goals from a lot of volume — but a guy who has this set of skills is very much worth keeping an eye on.

Burcu iis a little bit more of a true winger and even got some occasional minutes on the right, but I thought his best highlights were when he cut inside from the left and played a through ball or pass into feet from the center of the pitch.

Some USMNT copium — Diego Luna, Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake have been poor this year, and Diego Luna has missed some games on international duty, so his numbers from his season do not look good. But if you look at what he did last year, you can see why Luna’s become such a key player for Mauricio Pochettino, who’s said he loves Luna for his “big balls.” He’s also a good combination shooter-playmaker off the left wing or at the No. 10 spot if needed there.

Luna’s profile looks a lot like Eze Off AliExpress, and I’d be very interested in him if I was a team from the continent shopping in the €10m player price range.

Shoot more! — Pape Amadou Diallo, FC Metz

Diallo got some Ligue 1 experience with Metz two years ago, but was too young and inexperienced to make a huge impact on a struggling team. Last year in Ligue 2, he was relied on quite a bit more, and put up some excellent numbers. If he sticks around instead of making a transfer this summer, he’ll get a second shot at Ligue 1 that he’s much more prepared for this time around.

Diallo had 7 goals, and he probably could have stood to shoot a bit more. Diallo’s xG per shot is through the roof, but he didn’t have a lot of volume. It’s great to see an unselfish winger racking up xA, but he could stand to choose the shot a bit more.

Get this dude more game time — Noah Adedeji-Sternberg, Genk

With Adedeji-Sternberg having racked up so many of his appearances from short stints off the bench, his stats are a bit inflated and he’s not likely to attract big money bids this summer. But Genk should probably be looking to make a sale or two to clear the way in front of this guy. I’d love to see him get more starts so we can find out if he really is this good.

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