Nolito – That guy who created more than Messi last season!

-By Sagar

The guy who is riding a wave. Nolito seems to be reaching his peak as a player, is on a high, and the ex-Barcelona man has suddenly caught the eye of Europe. The bane of right-backs in the league for the past two seasons, has been linked to Arsenal, and his old club Barcelona recently.

Although he has vehemently stated that Celta is his priority and that his sole focus is on his current team, he has softened up whenever asked about Barcelona, stating that he has always admired them.

Barca’s interest in him might make him think twice, but, ‘playing minutes’ is what he would want, and when he is on a career-high, and seems to be only going upwards with his form, it wouldn’t do him good to sit on the bench whilst competing with MSN. That is where Arsenal’ might have the edge in trying to lure Nolito, by offering regular playing minutes. Or he might even end up staying at Celta, with them looking to launch an attack at the top spots in the league. One never knows how these things pan out with football and the transfer windows.

Rumors about Barca going after Nolito has been doing the rounds for a quite a while, and the quotes from Barca and Nolito seem to show that there might just be a sliver of truth when it comes Barca showing interest. Whether or not this results in anything concrete is left to time.

We are trying to breakdown Nolito’s stats from the previous season and this season, and see how he plays, and what his strengths are.

Here he has been compared to Messi, because of how Nolito’s role at Celta has few similarities with that of Messi’s at Barca. He has been compared to Neymar because their preferred position is the same, and yet how different they are in the things they offer.

He has not been compared to Suarez because of how their roles and positions have nothing in common.

Nolito is a player who can play almost any position on the left, from a left mid to a left sided striker. His performances as a Midfielder, and as an out-and-out winger have earned him the respect he deserves in the footballing world.

He is an inverted winger who loves to cut inside, take on defenders, and to go through on goal to take shots.

This has helped him greatly this season to notch up some vital assists and goals for his team.



(Nolito against Espanyol. 2014/15 liga)



(Nolito against Rayo. 2015/16 liga)

When he is not needed to cut-in and be a threat infront of the goal, he plays the perfect winger by widening the pitch on the left and being that ‘provider’. When he does provide the width, he tends to go for long passes from the left side and deliver the ball into the six-yard box. His ability to give through passes to his overlapping team-mates is exceptional too.



(Nolito against Barca. 2014/15 Liga.

He did drift inside occasionally, but chose to get stuck on the extreme left and provide width).

He likes to take on the opposition full-backs before he does decide to cross or cut-in, and his ability on the ball has terrified the right full-backs in the liga so far. His pace, for a 29 year old (in a few weeks), is quite remarkable.

Despite all that, he has finally managed to turn heads because of a particular stat from last season. He created more chances than Leo Messi in the league (by mere two chances, but still). That’s right, he kept up with the demi-god that is Leo Messi, and created just as many chances for his team. Two more than him in fact.

Chances created:

Leo Messi: 93 chances (2014-15 LaLiga)

Nolito: 95 chances (2014-15 LaLiga).

Neymar (52 chances), being a direct rival to Nolito when it comes to preferred positions, cannot exactly be compared to Nolito’s run of form last season. Neymar was mostly charged with penetration of the defense to an extent, and finishing off what Messi and Suarez created, which he didn’t just complete but excelled at.

What Messi was tasked to do at Barca (Be that creative force from the wings), was what Nolito was tasked to do at Celta. Just from different wings.

Nolito averaged 2.88 chances per 90 minutes to Messi’s 2.48 chances per 90 minutes last season.

This season, though it’s been a short amount of time, he has set the league ablaze with his runs and cuts, and has averaged an amazing 3.43 chances per 90 minutes.



(Nolito against Rayo. 2015/16 Liga.

Drifting more inwards, resulting in more chances being created)

Passing:

No one can compare to Barca’s players when it comes to the art of passing. One does not, and cannot emphasize the significance of an attacking player who can complete passes consistently.

Comparing Nolito to the likes of Messi and Neymar, might be a bit harsh according to some and just not fair to the rest, but he has somehow managed to hold his own in this field by being more than satisfactory.

Last season he attempted a total of 1208 passes, way below Messi’s 2298, and close enough to Neymar’s 1529 attempts.

But that’s it, the pass completion rate of Nolito goes down to just 74% (per 90 minutes), while Messi’s is 83% (per 90 minutes), and Neymar’s is 81% (per 90 minutes).

Although, some fans would argue that Nolito did attempt longer passes than those two ‘monsters’ at Barca. And it’s true…to an extent.

Nolito, whenever his team-mates are in the zone, tends to provide the width by sticking to the sideline (as seen in the Celta-Barca heatmap from last season) and prefers long-passes and through passes, as compared to the other two who tend to drift inwards and prefer those intricate, technically tougher one-twos with their team-mates.

Nolito’s average pass length, from last season, was almost 17.50m, compared to Messi’s 14.37m, or Neymar’s 11.88m. This season, Nolito’s avg. pass length has gone upto 19.71m.

Shooting:

He has been scoring crackers this season, and his number of attempts per 90 minutes AND accuracy has increased, meaning he is cutting in a lot more than last season, and is looking to get behind the defensive line from the left side.

Last season, he attempted almost 3.18 shots per 90 mins, and his accuracy was below par at 49%. It’s almost a punishment to compare it with Messi (4.99 shots, 64% accuracy), or Neymar (3.33 shots, 57% accuracy). Yes, as someone who operates as a pure-winger at times he may not have a lot of attempts which is not the black mark, but rather the accuracy of landing them on target.

But, as aforementioned, this season there is a drastic change in his runs and decision making and it seems to be a change that is only improving him.



(Nolito against Barca. 2015/16 Liga. The noticeable improvement in number of shots and accuracy)



(Nolito against Barca. 2015/16 Liga.

Again, slight change in positioning and the tendency to drift in and out more frequently, is why he created more chances and attempted more shots this season)

Downsides(?):

As seen above, he forgets to wear his shooting boots at times and his accuracy drops. His other criticism would be that he rarely tracks back ‘effectively’. Make no mistake about the shifts he puts in, which is quite a lot, but he tends to give away cheap fouls and is a bit rash while going in for tackles.

He is going to be 29 in a few weeks, and by no means is he a finished product or a declining one, but he is probably very near to his ‘peak’ as a player, and teams nowadays are wary about investing in players who don’t offer much in the long-term.

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To conclude, Nolito is that ‘versatile attacking player’ who can play as LM, LAM or a LF, and any team would love to have him. His run of form the past few seasons has proved that he is a player who is, and can be a match-winner for any side he plays for. His ability to take on defenders and beat them, and create chances almost at will makes him a dangerous entity on the field.

Certain players are like wine. They get better with age. People might point fingers at his age, but he is at that point where he will go nowhere but up for the next couple of seasons. After which it’s up to him how he can use his experience to his advantage and to remain as an ‘impact player’ for a long, long time.

Barca do not have a quality player who can rotate in and out of the squad with MSN, and although Munir and Sandro show a lot of potential, having both of them seems to be of no help to either them or the team. They need a player who can make an impact, offer threat consistently, and be an impact sub off the bench. It needs to be seen if Nolito prefers to be an important starting XI member, or is fine with having irregular minutes while deputizing for MSN. This is all just conjecture at this point, and everything will be clear come Jan 2016.

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