Statistical Scouting — Club Brugge
Club Brugge are one of the best teams in Belgium, winning the league last year and finishing in second the year before. They’ll play in the Champions League this year, which matters because that means you can pay $3.00 on B/R live to watch them, which is exactly $1.00 per player on Club Brugge I think you should pay attention to because they could find their way to a bigger club in the future.
Emmanuel Bonventure Dennis, ST, 20, €5,000,000*
Emmanuel put up impressive numbers last season in the Pro League, scoring 7 goals and grabbing 2 assists in around 1200 minutes. The underlying numbers were good as well. He ranked 8th in the league in xG/90 at .41, and 12th in chances taken per 90 at 2.5. As the map below illustrates, a lot of his shots came from the wide channels. While his locations aren’t ideal, there aren’t a ton of 20 year-olds producing these per 90 numbers.
Wesley Moraes, ST, 21, €6,000,000
Wesley is a large young-adult. Wikipedia (always a trustworthy source) says he is 6'3 and 205 lbs. One of his over-produced YouTube videos is aptly titled, “ROCKSolid.”
He scored 11 goals and added 3 assists in 2400 minutes last year. His underlying numbers were right in line with actual production: .51 xG+xA/90. If you only considered xG/90 and chances taken, Wesley would rank slightly behind Dennis, but Wesley offers considerably more as a creator than Dennis. It makes sense given his size that he would be effective in hold-up situations, and the numbers show that, with Wesley producing .16 xA/90 compared to .05 xA/90 for Dennis. His shot locations aren’t ideal, but given his measurables and production, they aren’t a huge red flag.
Hans Vanaken, CAM, 26, €7,500,000
With Vanaken already celebrating his 26th birthday, it’s certainly possible that he’s missed his window for a move to a bigger league, but the heart wants what the heart wants, and my heart wants to see Vanaken play on a regular basis. Last year he produced 12 goals and 10 assists in around 3200 minutes. Those numbers were a fairly significant over-performance of his .48 xG+xA/90 and represented career highs in both categories.
I expect his counting stats to come back to his expected numbers this season, but there’s still a ton to like here. As the map above shows, his shot locations were decent for a midfielder, and he can be valuable on set-pieces. He’s 6'5; I guess I should have mentioned that before saying he’d be useful on set-pieces. He’s a 6'5 number 10. Good. Glad we covered that.
Vanaken created over 3 chances per 90 minutes, primarily from the left channel. The map below would lead me to believe that he’s comfortable putting long balls in behind and operating to the left of zone 14, but I haven’t seen enough of him to confirm that.
What I can confirm, based on watching more YouTube videos than I would like to admit, is that I’m going to happily spend $3.00 to watch Club Brugge play in the Champions League this year.
This article was written with the aid of StrataData, which is property of Stratagem Technologies. StrataData powers the StrataBet Sports Trading Platform.
*All transfer values are according to Transfermarkt
