Scouting Report: Should Liverpool Be Targeting Valencia's Dani Parejo?
One of Liverpool's summer transfer targets is Valencia midfielder Dani Parejo, per Superdeporte (h/t Inside Spanish Football), so here is a scouting report on the 5'11", 24-year-old Spaniard.
Positives
Parejo is an all-round midfielder who has been deployed in the No. 6 and No. 10 position by Valencia manager Juan Antonio Pizzi.
TOP NEWS
Grading Top Coach Decisions ๐ญ
Best Deals for EPL Spenders ๐ค
World Cup Power Rankings ๐
Parejo is an intuitive right-footed passer, as was evident when he was involved in a well-worked combination with Dorlan Pabon, who scored in Valencia's 2-1 defeat to Real Sociedad.
Parejo's goal in Valencia's 3-2 winย against Barcelona came via a one-two with Sofiane Feghouli, an example that shows good movement off the ball and sharp passing.ย
Parejo's superb linkup play is enhanced by his metronomic short-to-intermediate passing.
If you take out crosses and long passes, his 87.6 pass completion percentage rises to 93.8.
He keeps play moving on for Valencia with 61.2 passes per game, and when asked to create from deep, he is a reliable facilitator (94 completions from 113 attempts).ย
He tends to make incisive diagonal passes, which can open up play.
Parejo averages 2.1 key passes per game (a pass that leads to a shot), which is more productive than Koke (Atletico Madrid, 2.0), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona, 1.8), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool, 1.8) and Luka Modric (Real Madrid, 1.6).
Parejo is light on his feet, allowing him to evade tackles and extend plays.ย
Granada central midfielders Mohammed Fatau and Manuel Iturra failed in succession to win the ball from Parejo.ย
Parejo's primary strength is his set piece proficiency.
While he did hit a dipping free-kick past Osasuna goalkeeper Asier Riesgo, Parejo is more of a threat when sending in crosses from free-kicks and corners.
Centre-backs Ricardo Costa (in a 4-1 defeat to Villarreal) and Ruben Vezo (in a 2-1 win over Granada) have cashed in on Parejo's elite set pieces in the current campaign.
Parejo is a solid contributor in winning back the ball: 49 tackles and 21 interceptions in 19 La Liga games this season.
It was him coming out on top in a 50-50 challenge that eventuated in Valencia's first goal against Barca.
Negatives
Parejo'sย ยฃ20 million valuation, per Paul Gorst at the Mirror,ย is an obscenely inflated number.
Do you know who averages the second-most passes per game in La Liga?ย
It isย Roberto Trashorras, a former Barcelona player, with 77.2 passes per game, and he plays for 19th-placedย Rayo Vallecano.ย
If you have been tuning in to watchย Granada because ofย Liverpool loaneeย Tiago Ilori, you must have noticed his teammate,ย Fran Rico, a former Real Madrid Castillaย player, who is only 0.1 key passes per game behind (2.0) Parejo (2.1).ย
Swansea City signedย Jose Canas (62.2 passes per game, 90.7 pass completion percentage) fromย Real Betis (42.5 passes per game, 80.3 pass completion percentage) on a free transfer.
Canasย upped his passes per game by 20 and his pass completion percentage by 10.4.ย
What's your point? There are plenty of ball-dominant midfielders inย La Liga.ย
Isย Parejo a world-class midfielder? No, therefore he is not worth ยฃ20 million.ย
He is an above-average player, who isย finally living up to the billing having been a former Real Madrid player.ย Just becauseย Parejo is a nameable player does not mean he is the best transfer option for Liverpool.ย
Ifย Valencia play hard ball and inflate his transfer stock as they did withย Gaizka Mendieta andย Gerard, Liverpool should rule out Parejo, who does not have the same upside ofย David Silva or Juan Mata when they transferred to the Premier League.ย
Statistics viaย WhoScored.
.jpg?w=600 "NFL star fakes injury at Savannah Bananas game")
.png?w=600 "Landing Spots For NBA Free Agents โ๏ธ")
.jpg?w=600 "Ranking Every Team's Farm System ๐")
.jpg?w=600 "Mendoza Graduates From Cal ๐")