With our "Korean David Beckham" on loan at the Wearsiders, how has he been getting on?
I recently put together an article looking at how each of Swansea's central midfielders compares to the others statistically (link), and with Ki's loan spell drawing to a close and speculation surrounding his future I thought an interesting exercise would be to see how his statistics from his spell at Sunderland compare with Leon, Jose, Jonathan De Guzman & Jonjo Shelvey.
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| Swansea's four midfielders so far this season (as of 25-02-14) |
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| Ki's stats so far this season (as of 07-03-14) |
As you can see his pass accuracy exceeds that of any of the Swansea midfielders, though he plays significantly fewer passes per game than all bar Jonjo. He loses possession as rarely as Swansea's safest feet - those of Jose Canas, but is dispossessed about as often as Jonathan De Guzman - who's mugged more often than any of the Swansea midfielders. This probably reflects the role Ki is playing for Sunderland - it's a kind of cross between the defensive and attacking midfield roles at the Swans - so while he's not necessarily getting assists and goals aplenty he's clearly imposing himself on games.
Defensively too he's faring pretty well when compared with Swansea's midfield, making 1.9 tackles per game which is as good as Leon (and better than any of the others), but he is only making 0.8 interceptions per game, on a par with Jonjo who nabs the ball less than any of his teammates. I think when you look at Ki's stats from last year (table below) you can clearly see he's being asked to play a more advanced role at Sunderland as his turnovers (losing the ball through poor control etc) have doubled to 0.8 while he's dispossessed over 50% more often (1.3 up from 0.8 times per game).
The former could well be attributed to playing the ball in more advanced areas with numerous defenders in close proximity, while again for the latter if you're trying to take people on you're liable to be mugged more often. This is again demonstrated in the statistics, with Ki attempting one dribble per game - more than any of the Swansea midfield.
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| Swansea's midfield stats as of April 2012/13 |
The thing that's really impressive is the passing accuracy. It's no mean feat having an average pass accuracy higher than Leon Britton's, and to do that when you're clearly playing a more traditional central midfield role is very, very impressive. To me that just serves to emphasise why he should be brought back into the fold for next season. With De Guzman very liable to secure a bumper contract elsewhere off the back of the World Cup we'll be down one midfielder, and Monk's switch back to two deep midfielders - one of whom "goes" - should suit the Korean down to the ground.
Overall it's pretty impressive stuff from the Korean, and I for one am very keen to see him pull on a Swansea shirt again. From a cold-hearted financial point of view too it makes great sense - the interest we saw from South Korea was mad but has completely disappeared since his departure - so if we can get a great midfielder who already knows how we play who doubles up as a cash cow that seems to make a lot of sense to me.
Let's just hope he's not become too attached to Sunderland and it's fans, and that he fancies having another crack at life in SA1. I've got everything crossed that he comes back for another stint, and I'm sure I'm not alone.