It does look like we are making contingency plans for losing Mousa Dembele. The Belgian`s latest comments away on international duty weren`t particularly promising, although it does seem he could still stay at the club after weighing up this options in the summer.
We have been linked with a fair few central midfielders in recent weeks, and it is quite obvious that the reason is because our no.19 is yet to make a decision on his future with us.
The Daily Telegraph correspondent Matt Law have however indicated we are tracking Atalanta midfielder Bryan Cristante, although it maybe that the Italian could be a potential summer target even if Mousa stays:
If we look at his statistics for WhoScored, he certainly wouldn`t be a like for like replacement for the Belgian international. Their attacking attributes are not that similar. The Italian makes 1.1 dribbles/game compared to our midfielder`s 2.1. Equally their goalscoring records are night and day with 11 scored by the Atalanta man and zero for the Belgian star this season.
Yet, there are a lot more similarities in their defensive contributions to matches. Both have similar averages for tackles (Cristante 1.9 tackles per game, Mousa 1.4) and interceptions (the Belgian 1 and the Italian averaging 0.7). The one area where I did think that our midfield player would be better is in dribbling past players. However the Italy international has the edge (averaging 1.1 dribbles past per game to Dembele`s 0.8).
Of course, it depends on how you gather such statistics. These things are very much open to interpretation. Personally, I haven`t seen much of the Cristante to really make a firm judgement on him, but it does seem the club are keen on recruiting him.
It’s probably wrong to say he would be a “potential replacement” as Mousa is very unique, and it would be a blow to lose him. Hopefully we won`t, and if we do go for Cristante he is signed to support the 30 year old, rather than taking his place in the side.
Do you think Dembele will leave in the summer? Let me know in the poll.
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