After a long summer away, the Premier League is finally back, and West Ham United have a massive season ahead of them.
Graham Potter’s side kickstart their campaign away to the newly promoted Sunderland tomorrow afternoon, which certainly has the potential to be something of a banana skin fixture.
However, while it might not feel like it, there are reasons to be positive as the Hammers won four of their five pre-season games and have made a few interesting signings.
Moreover, if reports are to be believed, they are now looking at a player who could end up being their own version of Morgan Gibbs-White.
West Ham target their own Gibbs-White
While West Ham haven’t been as busy as some fans might’ve hoped they’d be in the market this summer, they’ve still made a few promising additions to the squad.
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For example, Kyle Walker-Peters on a free looks like brilliant business, and from what we’ve seen in pre-season, El Hadji Malick Diouf could surprise a lot of people over the next ten months.
However, it looks like the Irons are planning on completing at least one more signing this summer, as they close in on someone who’s won comparisons to Gibbs-White.
At least that is according to a recent report from Sebastien Vidal, who has reaffirmed West Ham’s interest in Lorenzo Pellegrini, stating that the club are plotting a “major move” for him.
The journalist has revealed that the Italian ace is “ready for the Premier League challenge” and that the “Hammers are pushing to seal the deal quickly.”
In even better news, reports from earlier this summer claimed that AS Roma would be willing to let the midfielder leave for free, but even if he cost a small fee, he’d be worth it, especially as he could become West Ham’s Gibbs-White.
How Pellegrini compares to Gibbs-White
So, in this instance, the basis of this comparison stems from FBref, which looked at players in similar positions across Europe’s top five leagues and concluded that Gibbs-White has been the fifth most similar attacking midfielder or winger to Pellegrini over the last 365 days.
We can gain a better understanding of how this conclusion was reached by taking a look at some of the underlying numbers in which the pair ranked closest.
These include metrics such as non-penalty expected goals plus assists, shots on target, shot-creating actions, tackles, carries into the final third and more, all per 90.
Non-Penalty Expected G+As
0.35
0.36
Progressive Passes Received
4.53
4.37
Shots on Target
0.72
0.67
Passing Accuracy
79.5%
78.3%
Key Passes
1.49
1.64
Shot-Creating Actions
3.32
3.69
Tackles
1.33
1.38
Successful Take-On %
40.7%
40.3%
Carries into the Final Third
1.49
1.67
These numbers paint the picture of an all-action midfielder who is as comfortable scoring goals as he is creating them, while also chipping in with the defensive side of the game – sound like anyone else?
Moreover, even if we ignore the underlying data and FBref’s comparison, it’s easy to make one of our own for the Nottingham Forest ace by simply looking at the Roma star’s output over the years.
For example, since moving to the Italian capital, the “exquisite” Conference League winner, as dubbed by former boss Claudio Ranieri, has scored 55 goals and provided 59 assists in 316 appearances, which works out to a goal involvement every 2.77 games.
For comparison’s sake, the former Wolverhampton Wanderers star has scored 18 goals and provided 28 assists in his 118 appearances for the Trick Trees, which works out to a similar enough average of a goal involvement every 2.56 games.
Ultimately, even if he costs a fee, Pellegrini would be worth it, but if he’s truly available for free, then this potential transfer seems like a no-brainer for West Ham, especially given his similarities to the brilliant Gibbs-White.