Juventus have had a busy summer transfer window so far. They have let go of Paulo Dybala, Federico Bernadeschi, Merih Demiral and Matthijs de Ligt. In their place, they have signed Paul Pogba, Ángel di Maria, Gleison Bremer, and made Federico Chiesa’s move permanent after a two year loan spell. However, the Old Lady might not be done yet. They have been trying to offload Arthur Melo as he has fallen behind Manuel Locatelli, Denis Zakaria and Weston McKennie in the pecking order. In his place, reports are claiming that Ilkay Gundogan could join the Bianconeri in a swap deal that sees the Brazilian move the other way.
Gündoğan appeared in 43 games for Manchester City last year across all competitions, with 27 of those coming in the Premier League. He played for 1,854 minutes, scoring eight goals at a rate of 0.36 per 90, which placed him in the top 5% of midfielders. He was in the top 2 percent of midfielders with a 0.39 xG per 90. Despite only hitting 30% of his attempts on goal, the German international fired off 2.4 shots per 90 and produced 0.16 xG per shot. In the offensive penalty area, he averaged more than 3.5 touches per 90, which placed him in the 91st percentile among midfielders.
Despite xA per 90 projecting Gündoğan to generate 0.16 assists per 90, he only provided 0.04 assists per 90. He was a virtuoso of the pass, completing 92% of his attempts, much like a member of a Pep Guardiola squad would. He tried more than 55 passes per 90 minutes. His ball movement was also effective, as he found his teammates in the final third 86.6% of the time. The former Borussia Dortmund man comfortably qualified for the upper quintile with 1.17 shot assists per 90. Additionally, he produced 1.93 progressive runs per 90, which was sufficient to place him in the upper 30%.
As can be seen in the above heat map, Gündoğan mostly played on the left side of a midfield three. He connected with the strikers quickly and put the other teams in risky situations close to the penalty area. He accomplished 2.33 carries into the offensive third per 90, 6.41 progressive carries per 90, 1.8 crucial passes per 90, 3.79 balls into the final third per 90, 4.08 progressive passes per 90, and 1.31 passes into the box per 90.
