Villarreal's net transfer spend in last summer window was £46 million, second in La Liga. Arnott Danjuma, who signed from Bournemouth in the Championship, performed well in the 21/22 season. The Dutch striker has made 23 appearances in all club competitions this season, scoring 12 goals and assisting four goals, and his brilliant performances have also attracted the attention of Dutch coach Louis van Gaal, who was called up to the national team after Euro 2020. Football journalist Romano said at the end of 2021 that Liverpool were closely watching Danjuma and intended to sign him in the 2022 summer window. From the Championship to the Spanish top flight, how can Danjuma make such a big leap? Why did he get the attention of giants Liverpool? The answer will be revealed in the following comprehensive analysis.
Basic data analysis
In the summer window of 2019, Dutch left striker Danjuma moved from Bruges to Bournemouth for 16.46 million euros. In the summer window of 2021, Villarreal signed Danjuma for 23.5 million euros, and in two years, his value increased by 7 million euros. From the Championship to La Liga, his offensive performance not only did not decline, but improved a lot. This season, he made 16 appearances in La Liga, scoring 8 goals, assisting 3 times, averaging 0.53 goals per game, 3.1 shots per game, and 1.3 shots per game, all better than last season.0 The average number of passes per game and assists per game have not dropped much.
In last season's Championship, Danjuma made 33 appearances and scored 7.21 points this season, ranking 5th in the Championship league and 1st in the same position in the league. This season he has a combined rating of 6.95 points in 15 La Liga matches, ranking 38th in La Liga, 4th in the team and 6th in the same position in La Liga.
High-level data capability analysis
Let's use Wyscout's data to take an in-depth look at Danjuma's performance this season. Below is a comparison of Danjuma's data from 36 attacking players in La Liga.
Danjuma is a very offensive player who always looks for opportunities to play against opponents in the offensive phase. According to the scatter chart above, he finished third with 7.25 passes per 90 minutes, behind Real Madrid winger Vinicius and Valencia's Guedes. Another ability to consider is the ability to advance with the ball. His 4.52 advances per 90 minutes with the ball are also impressive, which shows that his excellent ball holding ability can improve the team's offensive rhythm. All of these stats show that Danjuma is good at 1v1 confrontation and possession, as evidenced by his goals against Betis.
The second set of key reference data is the number of offensive confrontations per 90 minutes and the success rate. Danjuma has played against 10.5 offensive games per 90 games this season, with a 50 percent success rate. His name appears in the second quadrant of the graph, which means he is above average on both metrics. Danjuma is a very confident dribbling master, and in a 1v1 confrontation, the opponent has only half the chance of snatching the ball from his feet.
The third set of key indicators describes danjuma's role in attacking the three zones. The Dutchman stood out again, completing 1.68 deep completions per 90 minutes (dribbling and passing to the last 20m zone), ranking fourth in La Liga, which shows that his ability to send the ball into the six-yard zone is more prominent. Meanwhile, he received 6.62 balls per 90 minutes in the box, more than any other striker in the league, suggesting that he has a strong sense of attack and position, always looking for opportunities to pick up the ball in the box.
Finally let's look at the quality of his attack, the scatter chart above shows the basic situation of the player posing a threat to the goal. His expected goal per 90 minutes (XG) is 0.55, which is a very high value, only less than Benzema's 0.65, which means that the quality of his shots is very outstanding and can pose a constant threat to the goal. He has 3.47 shots per 90 minutes, second only to Benzema, which shows his desire to score goals.
From the above four sets of important data, it is not difficult to find the offensive characteristics of Danjuma, he has a strong aggressiveness, ball control ability and confrontation ability, can advance with the ball, can form a deep blow to the opponent, the quality of the shot is high, and many of his high-level data are in the front row in La Liga.
Tactical characteristic analysis
Here we will analyze Danjuma's tactical behavior with and without the ball, and gain an in-depth understanding of his tactical style and capability traits.
Danjuma plays as a left striker on the pitch and he has a good sense and willingness to find the depth of the attack. He's very good at digging straight into the area behind the line, which gives his teammates the option of attacking the defense with long-range long passes. In the scene above, when left-back teammate Estupina pressed up close to the opposing right-back, Danjuma realized that this was a good opportunity to attack behind the right-back, so Paulo Torres sent a long pass forward from a long distance.
Danjuma successfully received the ball behind the opposing right-back, and the space here could only be filled by the opposing centre-back, which could be seen forming a 1v1 opportunity with the opposing centre-back in the rib area, and the distance between the opposing two centre-backs provided ample space for his dribbling breakthrough.
The previous penetrating run was relatively simple, and Danjuma was able to quickly break through the right-back because he had the assistance of his teammates at full-back, which did not always happen. In the absence of teammate assistance, he is good at using fake moves and rhythm changes to create good offensive conditions for himself.
In this attack, Van Dijk was looking for an opportunity to attack with the ball in the middle circle, and Danjuma was alone on the left side, the opponent's formation was relatively compact, and it seemed that there was no better passing route and too much offensive space. Danjuma had to try on his own to use the ballless run to create offensive space.
At first, Danjuma wanted to move laterally to the ribs to catch the ball, but he saw that Van Dijk was still moving forward and stopped the plan. He chose to move closer to the sideline, pulling himself away from the opposing left-back. This is a very important step, he needs to get the attention of the opposing right defender, so that the opponent's vision and body direction form a greater angle, so that he can't turn around faster and follow his own movements. Montenegro's right-back noticed Danjuma's movements, and his eyes were fixed on the ball as Van Dijk carried the ball forward.
The time to attack finally came, and montenegrin right-back turned to Danjuma, needing to turn a larger angle to cover the space behind him. It was at this point that Danjuma realized that Van Dijk had begun to pass the ball, and he again subtly adjusted and immediately diagonally activated for a penetrating no-ball run, while the opposing right-back was now turning his head in the direction of the ball, and when he realized that his opponent had started to insert and then want to pursue the defense, he was already half a beat slower.
Danjuma prefers to choose aggressive moves, he does not choose to move laterally before the defensive line to catch the ball, but to take advantage of the opponent's poor defensive conditions to try to attack the defensive line with a more direct oblique direction, he has a very accurate grasp of the timing, and is very good at constantly adjusting the position and defense to create the best offensive conditions.
Let's take a look at how he adjusts when he falls into an offside trap. On this attack, he was in an offside position, and he first retreated to a more rear position, staying in the blind test of the defenders. Then, when his teammates pass the ball, he then uses his speed to get past the defender and into the space behind the opponent. We can feel his keen insight and determination, he can quickly find a situation that is more favorable to him according to the situation on the field, and take accurate and reasonable actions.
Danjuma has a strong sense of position, which is a must for a winger. He's good at using space, has excellent ball possession, and has the ability to challenge defenders, but he knows better when to start and when to insert into an open position to catch the ball. His no-ball ability is just as good as his ability to have the ball.
Tactical role and resilience analysis
In this part of the analysis we can understand the tactical role of Danjuma in different tactical systems. Although he is a left winger, he has been assigned different tactical tasks by different coaches in the national team and clubs, but he has shown very good execution.
In Villarreal, Emery placed Danjuma in a more advanced position. Some data agencies even consider him a striker in a 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 formation. In this tactical structure, Danjuma mainly provides high positions in the middle to tie down the opposing defender line, and he can shuttle through different lateral areas to allow teammates to play a greater offensive role at left-back.
For example, while Estupina was in front of the left, Danjuma remained in the middle to occupy the centre-back position and make room for wide space. He must also make dynamic movements in order to enter the right offensive zone at the right time according to the course of the game and perform tactical actions such as passing the ball or inserting the ball without the ball. In the above scenario, he can both insert himself in the space behind the defender and give Torres a chance to attack with a long pass, and he is also ready to retreat to the midfield empty area at any time to organize a tandem.
Danjuma's clever running can be seen in the Champions League against Manchester United, the Dutch international has a good reading ability for the situation on the pitch and he and the left-back are able to form a good interaction. Paulo Torres dribbled the ball forward, with Danjuma initially in the middle, closer to Lindelof, and later moving towards the flank of United's right-back. The point of this no-ball run is that he can let both of his teammates press forward.
If Danjuma remains in the middle, United right-back Van Bissaka is free to strike as Lindelof will come to keep an eye on Danjuma. However, when Danjuma came to the right, he not only restrained Wan-Bissaka, giving Moi-Gomez the opportunity to move freely on the ribs, but also left Estuphinan with a left-hand passage. This small move was key to the tactical plan, leaving the team overdone on the left and giving Paulo Torres more passing options.
In contrast, in the Dutch national team, Van Gaal will give Danjuma a wider position, and he wants his team to make use of the width of the pitch as much as possible, which is also a major duty of the winger. With memphis Depay as the striker in the Netherlands, Danjuma has played the role of auxiliary attacker for most of the time, and his tasks and positions on the field are very different from those in club matches, which we will explain through the Dutch team's match against Montenegro.
Although Danjuma initially occupied a wide position, he also needed to press the left-back to attack. When he spotted Van Dijk passing the ball to Blind, Danjuma took an important action, which was to occupy the left rib area. It was a necessary move, and when the ball flew, he had to attract the attention of the opposing full-back so that Blinder was not under vertical defensive pressure. Then, in the rib zone, Danjuma was free to make various types of attacks according to the current situation.
Of course, Villarreal is also a team that allows attacking players to move freely. This fluidity allows Danjuma to play 1v1 confrontations and dribble over a wide range. Normally, when full-backs don't press forward to attack high, Emery will let Danjuma provide width on the left flank. In this position, he has more freedom and he can try a 1v1 breakout and go all the way. Danjuma can be seen maintaining a better body posture, such a sideways catch allows him to have a wider field of vision and be able to catch the ball more quickly, and aim the angle of the ball at the defender.
Defensive and offensive and defensive conversion analysis
Defensively, Danjuma is not the most active player, as some of his tactical positioning in the team does not require him to be too involved in defense. However, in some special tactical roles, he still needs to take on key tasks when defending and switching.
Under Villarreal's tactics, the team mainly adopted a 4-4-2 or 4-1-3-2 defensive formation, with Danjuma and another teammate forming the first line of defense, but they rarely initiated the press. Instead, all Emery needed was lock in the opposition's No. 6 player in the middle, communicating and coordinating with Villarreal's midfielder in order to take a position in the middle. In the scene above, we can see how Danjuma controls the distance between United centre-backs and midfielders. Again, pressing and physical confrontation are not his strengths, but perhaps he will improve in these areas in the future.
Emery prefers to put Danjuma in a higher position so he can be the first player to launch a counterattack. The Netherlands international also consciously ran to the back of the last line of defence to attack the space left behind his opponent.
Against Manchester United, we saw Villarreal's attacking switch. Danjuma had long since stepped forward into the space behind the right-back, and Wan-Bissaka hadn't even turned around. The advantage of this moment allowed Danjuma to reach the space behind the defensive line earlier than his opponents and provided his teammates with an offensive route for passing the ball.
Another scene also proves Danjuma's ability in offensive transitions. Villarreal intercepted the ball on the flank, while Danjuma had already taken a favorable position between Lindelof and Van-Bissaka, ready to attack the penalty area. Here, if his teammates can pass the ball in after one or two touches, it is bound to form a good scoring opportunity, and the opponent's defense has been destroyed.
epilogue
As we can see in the above analysis, Danjuma is a relatively versatile offensive player who can play different positional roles. If the manager wants him to keep the width, he can use speed, dribbling and 1v1 ability to create threats from the flanks. On the other hand, his good ability to read matches and quick judgment also allowed him to play important roles in midfield, such as Emery's "pseudo-9". In any case, he was one of the best performers in La Liga in 2021/22, and his brilliant performances also attracted the attention of big clubs such as Liverpool.