How does the former Chelsea youngster compare to our existing central midfielders?
With Jack Cork being consistently linked with the Swans I thought it would be interesting to see how he fared when his stats were put into the player radar template. Given Cork is a midfielder who likes to sit and control I thought it would be fair to compare him with Leon & Canas - here are their player radars.
The first thing that struck me about this radar when compared to the two below is how many tackles Cork makes per ninety minutes. As you can see from Leon & Jose's radars, they're both midfielders who make plenty of interceptions but struggle to regain possession direct from an opponent.
In Canas' case (above) the issue is exacerbated by how often he's beaten by opponents dribbling past him. Quite a worrying set of stats that, and it could perhaps give an indication as to why we're looking to move him on, as I'd always thought he'd done alright defensively. If he's beaten that often and doesn't make that many tackles then realistically, as a defensive midfielder, he's lacking something.
Ah, Leon. Who cares if he doesn't make tackles? He rarely gives fouls away, is rarely beaten by a dribble and is almost never caught in possession. You can see from the radar above that it genuinely does represent his game, and is a brilliant way of gauging a player at a glance. Obviously you need to put it in context, but it really is an amazing tool.
Back to Cork, and the thing that strikes me about his radar in particular is that he's clearly a more rounded midfielder than either Leon or Canas. He makes far more key passes and what's more he also makes a lot more tackles. Something we could definitely do with at the Liberty.
For the price mooted it's hard to see this being anything other than a great move for the Swans. Sign him up, Huw!