Leeds United bid farewell to Pascal Struijk this summer, with the Dutch defender making the move to Brighton.
According to Fabrizio Romano, however, United seem to be on the verge of signing his replacement. Sassuolo defender Tarik Muharemovic looks set to make the move to Elland Road this summer.
With Struijk’s silky left foot giving United’s backline some much-needed balance, it is important that we secure a like-for-like replacement.
But according to the data, the 49ers may have gone one better and even upgraded on Struijk.
Data suggests Tarik Muharemovic and Pascal Struijk are similar on the ball
Firstly, when comparing Muharemovic and Struijk, it’s important to consider their age.
At 26, Struijk is a player in the prime years of his career. Whilst at just 23, Muharemovic has more of a ceiling to improve, you would imagine.
On paper, at least, it’s clear to see why the 49ers have targeted Muharemovic.
According to data courtesy of Squawka’s Comparison Matrix, Muharemovic and Struijk are similar when it comes to their ability on the ball.
Last season, Muharemovic completed 44.9 passes per game, with an 85.69% pass accuracy.
Struijk, on the other hand, completed 49.9 passes per game, with an accuracy of 88.51%
However, of these passes, Muharemovic tended to attempt long passes far more often than Struijk last season.
Muharemovic attempted 7.1 long passes per game, whilst Struijk attempted 4.7
Naturally, Muharemovic completed more long passes per game. Completing 2.8 compared to Struijk’s 2.2.
Struijk did, however, boast a higher completion rate, with 46.41% compared to Muharemovic’s 39.46%
Being good on the ball is nice, but we all know a lot more than that goes into being a defender.
Data suggests Tarik Muharemovic is a better pure defender than Pascal Struijk
On top of being a bigger goal threat last season, with two league goals compared to Struijk’s zero, the data suggests Muharemovic is a better pure defender than Struijk.
Muharemovic averaged more tackles a game last season than Struijk, with 1.4 compared to Struijk’s 1.2
The Bosnian also averaged more clearances (7.1), interceptions (1.5) and blocks (1) per game than Struijk. The Dutchman averaged 6.4, 1 and 0.6, respectively.
As well as this, the data also confirms that Muharemovic is better than Struijk in duels.
Muharemovic’s aerial duel success rate was 64.42% last season, compared to Struijk’s 55.84%
Even when the ball was on the deck, Muharemovic was more effective.
The Sassuolo defender was successful in 64.42% of his ground duels, which is significantly higher than Struijk’s 55.17% success rate.
Some may caveat these numbers, claiming Muharemovic was doing it in a less competitive league in Serie A, whilst Struijk was doing it in the Premier League.
Perhaps rightly so. But you cannot deny that on paper, his data is impressive when compared with Struijk.
With Struijk costing Brighton a reported £18million, the 49ers could be in line to hand Daniel Farke a younger player in Muharemovic, who the data suggests is an upgrade, for just £16million more than what they sold the Dutchman for.
Hopefully for Leeds, Muharemovic hits the ground running should he arrive in the Premier League. If he does, then the £34million it will reportedly cost to buy him will soon look like a bargain.
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