Everything you needed to know, and maybe some stuff you didn't.
 |
| Mehdi Lacen |
Firstly, I have to point out that the links to this player are, as yet, very tenuous. It's broken on various sites in the last few days that the Swans are interested in the Algerian international, however the player himself denies any knowledge of this;
"I have a contract here until 2015, so let's wait until the end of the season to see what will happen. I know Michael Laudrup, he was an excellent player, a top midfield player in the World Cup, a typical No.10 and he is also a great coach.
"I know nothing of Swansea's interest in me, but I will look into it seriously if there is an interest in England. I love the English league and would love to play there one day." Mehdi Lacen
The fact there are no quotes from anyone involved with Swansea City to back this up doesn't seem to indicate this is anything other than a rumour at present, although those in the gossip-mongering camp will no doubt coin the old adage "there's no smoke without fire" and it's for this reason I thought I'd have a look to see what he's all about.
Born in Paris to an Algerian father and an Italian mother, 29 year old Lacen is a defensive midfielder who started out playing for a few French outfits, until whilst playing for ASOA Valence he caught the eye of La Liga outfit Alaves. One thing to note is that in a first, I went to read about ASOA Valance and immediately you read "ASOA Valance were a..." hang on, past tense? "...football club playing in France which ended in 2005 due to financial problems". Ouch. There is a team carrying the name on, but they are now playing at local level.
After two seasons at Alaves he joined Racing Santander on a three year deal, and after Peter Luccin returned to Real Zaragoza from his loan Mehdi made the defensive midfield position his own. He spent the next two seasons in the heart of the Santander midfield, finally getting himself a couple of goals. Much like another reputed Swansea target Jose Canas (profile of Canas here), Lacen seems to be very much in the Leon Britton mould. What we need, according to a growing number of fans, is a 6'2" Leon who loves a tackle, and while the Algerian only stands 5'7" he does apparently like a tackle, and he also has the experience of playing in all of Algeria's group games at the last World Cup to boot.
With less than six months remaining of his three-year deal he signed a pre-contract with Getafe, before meeting up with his new club in June 2011. A quick look at the stats for his time at Getafe so far show he averages just over a tackle a game, and just under one completed interception - hardly imperious. In his first season he managed thirty three appearances and one goal, and seemed to have really settled in to the squad - however this season has been a different story. Manager Luis Garcia Plaza has preferred pairing Xavi Torres, acquired in the summer from Malaga, alongside Abdelaziz Barrada (once linked with Newcastle amongst others) and in truth it's been hard to argue with that logic as the club currently lie eighth in the table. This has, however, resulted in Lacen only managing eight starts, and seven sub appearances, and that must frustrate a footballer who is used to playing every week. His stats over the last few seasons aren't that imperious, to be honest.
It's been proven time and time again, especially by clubs like the Swans, that players can be sitting in the reserves at other clubs, down on their luck and supposedly "out of form", when in reality they're just playing the wrong style of football. Now, I don't know anywhere near enough about Mehdi Lacen to say he'd fit in with the rest of the Swansea squad, but Laudrup will have come up against him during his own time managing in La Liga and is likely to have more of a formed opinion on him than any of us. Whether he feels the player is a worthy addition is another matter, however with limited playing time this season it's likely the club and the player would be open to an offer. Couple that with the ongoing financial insecurity in La Liga (and Spain in general) and we could get him very, very cheap.
Whether there is anything in this rumour is hard to say, and I don't see us signing Canas AND Lacen. For me, from what I've read online over the last few weeks, Canas seems the more attractive opposition given his regular playing time, and overall defensive game. Whoever we sign, it would be nice to have a central midfielder who likes a tackle, and if it's someone who can keep the midfield ticking over at the same time then all the better.
From the (granted, limited) stats I've managed to find, Canas seems to be a lot busier in terms of regaining possession, and more importantly he seems more accurate in his distribution, so at the moment I'm firmly in the "Sign Jose" camp, however as usual I'm sure Laudrup knows a lot more about this sort of thing than I do...
Career Stats
Season
|
Team
|
Comp
|
Apps
|
Starts
|
Sub
|
Goals
|
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
15
|
7
|
8
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
|||
33
|
26
|
7
|
1
|
6
|
1
|
0
|
|||
33
|
24
|
9
|
1
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
|||
33
|
28
|
5
|
3
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
|||
34
|
34
|
0
|
0
|
9
|
1
|
0
|
|||
36
|
?
|
?
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
|||
31
|
?
|
?
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
|||
19
|
?
|
?
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
|||
35
|
?
|
?
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
|||
4
|
?
|
?
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
|||
Total
|
273
|
119
|
29
|
5
|
25
|
3
|
0
|
||