As I write this, there are still 55 days until the summer transfer window closes.
But if you pay close attention, the deals already done paint a crystal-clear picture of the trends we’ll see next season and the types of players in demand.
You’ve got Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali to Spurs, Marco Palestra to Chelsea, Hayden Hackney to Everton, Zadok Yohanna to Brighton, or several new Premier League centre-backs.
All the players mentioned above share one trait – they are fantastic ball carriers. They use their pace to attack the space that opens up in front of them, either to gain a territorial advantage or to create chances directly. Some of them do so while being exceptional dribblers. And many of them will inject explosiveness, record-high top speeds, and relentless sprinting.
I don’t expect the Premier League to become a completely counter-attacking and transitional affair – the slow, possession-heavy football will still have its place there. But counters, swift transitions, and verticality are still massive weapons, no matter your playstyle. We saw last season how physical the league became, and those players come in handy. Also, there are managers like Andoni Iraola who won’t deviate much from their philosophy.
I left two guys from that list on purpose.
Liverpool’s new winger, Víctor Muñoz, and Bazoumana Touré’s arrival at Newcastle are even more extreme examples of pace and of unique profiles.
Farewell, Yankuba. Welcome… Yankuba?
Newcastle fans have had to endure several departures in recent years that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.
Ahead of the 24/25 Premier League season, they were forced to sell Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to comply with PSR.
Yeah, the same Elliot Anderson for whom Manchester City paid £116 million without blinking an eye two years later.
But you know what? They decided to buy a new Minteh now.
Bazoumana Touré.
The 20-year-old Ivorian left winger joined from Bundesliga side TSG Hoffenheim for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around €47 million.
He’s a player who poses a significant creative threat in the final third of the pitch.
💡 While he can certainly arrive in the box and distribute from there, his biggest weapon is his ability to create a separation from the defender and cross from the left wide areas. You rarely see him cross from deep.
In terms of the quality of his crosses… well, a picture can sometimes tell more than a thousand words:
It’s not only a quality, but also an absurd volume.
Funny stat – although he played just under 1% of Hoffenheim’s corners (exactly one), he ranks in the 95th percentile for passes into the box per 90 minutes.
That combination of extreme accuracy and volume is genuinely scary.
His 0.22 xA p90 is well above average, and it would be even higher if he played more of other types of passes. I’d still say that his overall creativity is pretty good.
Another strong weapon is that he’s an absolute roadrunner who does a lot of ball progression by carrying – he excels in open space, both on and off the ball, and he recorded one of the fastest top speeds in the Bundesliga. ❗
Seriously, sometimes it looks like he’s just jogging, but after a few steps the defender is already trailing two metres behind him.
He’s a genuinely good athlete. Despite being just 173 cm tall, he wins many headers and ground duels, and recovers many balls during the game, which is very welcome in the Premier League. As for 1v1 dribbling skills, the volume certainly stands out, but the quality is rather average.
In general, Touré is much more of a creator than a goalscorer, averaging just 1.70 shots and 0.16 non-penalty xG per 90. He doesn’t arrive in the box too often, and when he does, it’s rarely a clear-cut chance – close to goal, but often with a lot of bodies in front of him.
💡 He’s still super rare, but certainly an exciting player to watch.
In FPL, probably not an option at the beginning of the season due to his lack of goal threat and the fact that I’m not sure anyone can finish his crosses often enough.
Andoni Iraola 🤝 Víctor Muñoz
During the pre-season, I will continue the series of articles focusing on all Premier League managers with a lot to prove at their new clubs.
I already covered Pierre Sage, even though there’s too much DEFCON discussion for my liking:
Anyway, Andoni Iraola will be part of it, and if you have been eagerly awaiting what transfers Liverpool have up their sleeve to please a new manager, you didn’t have to wait long.
Víctor Muñoz is a 22-year-old left winger who previously played for La Liga side Osasuna. The price tag is believed to be €40 million, and they apparently beat Newcastle to the signing.
He’s an exceptionally fast player and an extremely good ball carrier. Using two superlatives in one sentence might feel like overkill, but it really isn’t.
Muñoz excels in advanced models that measure the threat he generates by carrying, mainly because he combines his pace – he recorded a higher peak sprint speed than Kylian Mbappé – with dribbling that actually creates chances.
Not Mohammed Kudus’ YouTube highlight reel dribbling that makes you want to throw things at your TV.
He attempts almost seven 1-v-1 duels during the game, and because of the sheer volume, he ranks in the 90th percentile for number of successful take-ons.
His first instinct is to receive the ball and attack the space in front of him. The overall volume of progressive runs and carries into the final third nicely documents that:
The important thing is that he generates a lot of touches in the box and shots, as he is right-footed, unlike left-footed Bazoumana – about 2.50 attempts and 0.20 non-penalty xG per 90 minutes.
That xG figure suggests there are quite a lot of shots from outside the box and from wide angles, but the volume partially makes up for it. With better coaching, his shot map could look much better in the upcoming seasons.
Also, it should be noted that Osasuna finished 17th in La Liga last year, escaping relegation by just a goal difference, which skews some of the data.
The vast majority of his creation comes from carries, so you won’t see many final passes resulting from clever through-balls, chips or cutbacks. Most of his (pretty low) xA comes from crosses.
💡 As for the FPL, it’s a no again for Gameweek 1, and probably for quite a few weeks after that.
He’s bolstering options on the left wing because Cody Gakpo and Rio Ngumoha are still competing for that spot. So let’s see what happens in pre-season, but I don’t expect much in terms of final product, even if he’s a regular starter.
The price reveals will give us a better clue.
Another interesting Muñoz in the Premier League, then.
We just need to be a little patient if we want him to be a good fantasy pick.
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But it’s still only part of the story…
That’s all for today.
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Hi Filip sent a bunch of messages asking why we were charged in June? Check DMs please, thanks