Monday, 11 August 2014

Swans in for Stambouli? Statistical comparison w/ Leon & Canas

Swansea linked with French defensive midfielder - is he any good?



If you're anything like me, you'll follow any Swansea news with interest. Furthermore, if you're even more similar to me you'll never have heard of Benjamin Stambouli, the defensive midfielder who we're rumoured to be in for, if you believe French radio station RMC. 

Given I know so little about him, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get back on the player radars, and compare him to our two remaining defensive midfielders - Leon and, for the moment, José Canas (although I'm planning on going back and running Ki/Jonjo/De Guzman through the defensive midfielder radars, just to see how they come out).

So how does he stack up? Well, he played 37 times for Montpellier last season, and here's his radar:

Now here's Leon:

And finally, Jose Canas:

As you can see, Stambouli is clearly less of a footballer than either of our existing pair, but his tackles per match are excellent. Still, I can't help but feel that there must be better options out there? With a year left on his contract he'd be a cheap option, which is great...but what about this guy (below)?


THAT guy, ladies and gentlemen, is Kamohelo Mokotjo. Currently playing for PEC Zwolle in Holland, he's 23, available for £1.5million, and based on those stats he most definitely fits the bill. The beauty of these radars is you can see at a glance what would otherwise take a good few seconds of brainwork, and as soon as I saw Mokotjo's radar I knew I wanted him brought in. Especially as we need a defensive midfielder.

Whether the Swans love stats as much as I do is doubtful, but just based on these numbers, and reported transfer fees, it'd seem to make sense to at least sound out Mokotjo about a move over Stambouli. For a million and a half, we could possibly even afford to sign both!

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