With no game this weekend, I needed to find something else to talk about...
Swansea have been linked in the media with Alexandru Maxim, a midfielder rated at around £5million by current club Stuttgart. With the two clubs (apparently) unable to secure a deal in January if this is to go ahead it'll likely be in the summer, and after a new splurge of speculation I thought I'd have a look to see how he compares with the Swans' midfielders.
Maxim has started just six games this season for Stuttgart. He started the season in the team - getting a goal on the opening day at Borussia Monchengladbach, but hasn't managed another since and has been in and out of the side. Dropped after two games he then missed some games through illness, before coming back into the team around the end of October, beginning of November.
He then missed another month before coming back into the side but promptly got a thigh injury which saw him miss a match, and he's been a substitute for their last three. The key question though, is surely "how good is he?".
Well, he's an attacking midfielder (though he has featured on the left of a three-man attack for Stuttgart), and his stats hold up well. There's no real point comparing him to Leon, so I've put him alongside Ki, Gylfi & Jonjo. Jack Cork has already had the statistical treatment (link) and Leon is a) a very different position and b) has been unavailable for large swathes of the season.
Firstly, as Maxim is an attacking midfielder let's look at attacking stuff.
Let's be honest, that looks pretty good! All stats are per 90minutes unless it's not appropriate and sourced from Squawka.com, and Maxim comes out of this section shining. More assists per ninety minutes than Gylfi Sigurdsson? There can't be many players in Europe for whom that is true.
He's clearly busy, completing a lot of passes per ninety for someone in that position, and with his key passes and chances created on a par with Gylfi's he's obviously a player with good vision.
Next; goal threat.
Not bad again, but not hugely prolific. It's surprising that Ki has scored so many goals per ninety when he's played every game from central midfield, and while one in five is hardly setting the world alight and it's a solid if unspectacular return. Maxim is slightly worse off than that, but he's clearly active in and around the box, averaging over 1 shot in the box and 1.5 outside per ninety. More liable to shoot than any of our current midfielders, if we are indeed looking at Maxim then this element of his game could be what's drawn our attention.
General midfieldery:
Again - look at Ki! Outrageous stuff. As for Maxim, he likes to beat a man and overall he wins about as many duels as Jonjo or Gylfi which is encouraging, but he's clearly not one for defence. That said Gylfi seems to have fared similarly statistically and we've seen the work he's been putting in this season, so perhaps pressing and closing down isn't represented well here.
Lastly, a bit more defensive stuff:
Maxim doesn't like getting in the way of a shot, we can say that much! He's obviously much more of a playmaker than anything else and it's no surprise that he doesn't make a contribution in defence.
That would, you'd think, have to change if he came in during the summer. He'd have to work hard to cover space and while I can't say he's not doing that at the moment, if he was working hard AND posting these kinds of numbers in attack I can't believe he'd be dropped for a minute at Stuttgart, never mind being repeatedly benched.
With a price tag of £5million mooted it's difficult to say too much about Maxim other than he's most definitely an attacking midfielder with good output. Will he fit our style? Judge for yourself.