Where three ideal Leicester signings fit into the XI: Part two, Maxime Lopez

Firstly, let’s quickly determine why Houssem Aouar isn’t the correct fit. Fbref (a site that utilises Statsbomb data) provides very detailed statistical accounts in a report format—let’s dissect it by going through the relevant stats according to the previously defined role. Straight away, Aouar sees very little of the ball in comparison to his teammates (66.94 touches p/90—16th in the Lyon squad for players with more than 450 minutes last season), and even less inside the defensive third—7.54 touches p/90, which is inside the 2nd percentile for central-midfielders (the bottom 2% of all CMs in Europe’s top five leagues).

So, the middle man doesn’t have the responsibility in depth for Peter Bosz’s side and isn’t involved in deep possession with as much frequency as a “dictating” player should be, the numbers suggest he’s more of a final third creator. As expected, he meets the progressive passes p/90 quota with 4.72 (74th percentile) and unsurprisingly, outdoes the Belgian with his dribbling numbers; ranking in the 99th percentile for both attempted and completed dribbles (4.49 & 2.49 p/90). But, he offers very little in the way of defensive resources—ranking below the 30th percentile for tackles, interceptions, successful pressures (also as a %), and blocks.

This isn’t an indictment on Aouar’s qualities, his profile just isn’t programmed to adjust for defensive responsibilities, instead, he’s much more focused on creation. Some might argue that adding him alongside Wilfred Ndidi would work, as the Nigerian’s defensive output is unparalleled, but I think Tielemans’ out-of-possession efficiency goes under the radar. This is quite a long assessment to just simply say, Aouar—in the current setup—isn’t the correct fit, but what about another Frenchman?