Arsenal eye Ruben Neves transfer after Emi Buendia failure

Arsenal have turned their attentions to signing Ruben Neves this summer transfer window after losing the race to sign Emi Buendia, with Aston Villa pipping the Gunners to the Norwich forward.

What a mess. Someone the club have been tracking for well over a year is heading to Villa Park. The team running Arsenal are all inexperienced and learning on the job, yet they’re still making the same mistakes 12 months on.

Having bid for Emi Buendia on Tuesday, and offer to counter the one submitted by the Villans, the Gunners were pegged back and told to raise their bid. With Dean Smith’s intent on securing the Championship Player of the Season there was no time to dally. Spending months penny pinching over Houssem Aouar, it appears old habits die hard.

Promised for months about an ‘unprecedented’ and ‘big’ summer, Arsenal will not be signing their long-term target after missing out to a side that finished below them in the Premier League table and who also don’t have European football. This will be a long window.

Arsenal eye Ruben Neves transfer from Wolves after losing out to Aston Villa for Emi Buendia in the summer window

A lack of ambition? An unwillingness to up their bid by a measly £3m before the add-ons? What makes matters worse is that Emi Martinez – yes, him – played a role in convincing Buendia to choose Villa, as per John Percy. A dagger in the heart. ‘Be excited’.

Clearly not a replacement in any way, attentions have been turned towards concluding a deal for Ruben Neves from Wolves, reports The Times. Midfielders are sorely needed in north London as exits loom for Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi and Granit Xhaka, while Joe Willock is also heavily linked with a move away and Mohamed Elneny enters the final year of his contract.

The Portuguese international is one of three high-profile names – along with Pedro Neto and Adama Traoré – who will be allowed to leave Molineux this summer after a disappointing 13th place finish last season, with Neves being long-since admired by clubs across the division.

Worth €80m in 2019, Neves’ valuation has considerably dropped since with two years left to run on his deal and will now be available for around half that, in the region of £35m.

At just 24 years old and with bags of English top-flight experience, it does appear as if Neves will be joining Nuno Espirito Santo out of the door this summer and there are plenty of hungry eyes lining up to sign him. Will Arsenal bottle this one, too?

Statistically, it’s clear to see where his strengths lie.

Continued….

Ruben Neves Statistical Analysis as Arsenal Eye Transfer

When you think of Neves the immediate thought is either him smashing one into top bins from 30 yards or picking out a raking long ball into the galloping feet of Adama Traore from 40 yards. There’s a reason for that.

Looking at the potential goal threat, flicking through Neves’ archives you’ll be dished up some quite spectacular long-range strikes. He doesn’t score ugly goals. Averaging 2.08 shots per game puts him in the 95th percentile for central midfielders across Europe’s top five divisions, with a non-penalty xG of 0.08, which has him in the 71st.

He’s someone who can kick a football. Long, medium, soft or thunderously hard, he’ll more often than not find what he’s aiming for.

This is reflected in his passing stats, where his completion rate for long balls is at a staggeringly high 98th percentile. It doesn’t reflect as well in his overall completion rate, however, which sits at 83.9%, as his short passing really weakens his numbers.

Of those passes, he averages 6.22 into the final third per 90 minutes (84th percentile), with 1.04 key passes (71st percentile) and 4.19 switches (96th percentile). The numbers paint a picture and are reflected in the style Wolves adopt. Arsenal are a side who don’t switch the play enough, or quickly.

They’re agonising to watch as they adopt a low block and base their game on long distance runners like Traore and Neto breaking out of wing-back to find spaces in behind, as style that suits Neves perfectly given his lack of real pace and athleticism.

In that deep defence he is a valuable shield in front of the back four, averaging 3.94 tackles and interceptions (71st) and making 2.45 blocks (97th) which are figures understandably quite high due to defensive workload entrusted onto the side by previous boss Santo.

In regards to who he is most comparable to in the Arsenal team it’s obviously Xhaka, who isn’t overly mobile but sits in the engine room and sees the play run through him. Like the Swiss, if Neves doesn’t play well his team tend not to either.

A deal not linked to the Buendia transfer failings for obvious reasons, Arsenal are looking to keep tracking players in England, it would seem.