[ad_pod ]This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… At the beginning of the month, journalist Nicolo Schira confirmed on Twitter that both Wolves and Southampton were interested in Milan’s Andre Silva.
A deal, however, doesn’t look to be close with all parties seemingly in disagreement.
He claims that the Italian giants could sell him for €25m (£22.4m) but only a loan with an option to buy has been offered.
The Portuguese had a troublesome season on loan at Sevilla last campaign and has only scored twice since November.
On that evidence, he’d be a poor signing, but there would be one particular benefit for Wolves if he did indeed join.
In the video below, find out which former Chelsea star could be set to challenge Raul Jimenez as top dog at Wolves…
On the chalkboard
Outmuscling Raul Jimenez at Wolves next season could take some doing, and that’s despite the supposed fears of burnout from Nuno Santo after his exploits at the Gold Cup.
The Mexican was brilliant in his debut season in English football, netting 17 times in all competitions.
Silva, on the other hand, found the net on just nine occasions in La Liga.
Yet, if we assess where the pair take their shots from, there is one specific position on the pitch where Silva is better, inside the six-yard area.
Per Understat, in 2018/19, Jimenez had a total of 111 shots, of which only 12 attempts on goal were from inside the six-yard box. He scored two goals which can be demonstrated below.
As for Wolves’ transfer target, he had nine attempts on goal, also scoring twice from the same area, per Understat. However, he had considerably fewer shots, taking just 63 last term.
Particularly over the last two seasons, his ability to find himself in those positions close to goal is evident. As shown below, Silva gets far tighter and narrower to goal than Jimenez has done previously.
Based on the analysis above, Wolves’ current leading striker tends to drift into the channels far more, operating on the right where most of his efforts towards goal were taken from.
Silva, though, played more narrowly, using his predator-like instinct to fashion chances for himself closer and much more central to the opposition net.
Jimenez has proven himself to be a great poacher for Wolves, but in this regard, the Portugal international looks like as though he trumps him.