Spencer Mossman@fc_mossman
📊🇪🇸 Carlos Espí, data report
➡️ definitely a targetman, potentially a prolific marksman too
+ WAY too early of a sample size to certify anything, but has the makings of a real marksman... finds a high variety of shots; from outside the box in transition to a high density in the ST green zone from open play (the area that extends from the outside of the 6 yard box to the penalty area, where you will find the best combination of high xG chances that are outside of the keeper's realm to disrupt with a claim) to headers from set pieces
+ also still too early to really accept as truth but his conversion is excellent; high shot on target rate, 8 goals and 4.69 xGOT from 3.56 npxG is pretty sweet
+ big targetman traits too - a plus in the air (especially for his age), which makes sense at his height, high rate of passes attempted that go forwards + high rate of passes received that are long balls generally indicates a fwd that wins the ball high up the pitch and is capable of holding up play until runners arrive around him
+ pretty strong oop work rate too, kind of Levante-driven, but also partly his doing
- not much of a creator... dominates touches in the box but also dominates shots; when he gets the ball in a danger area he's looking to shoot always, which is a good trait for a goal-hungry ST, but also means you'll end up with instances of finishing moves w/ lower xG than was available
- gets into lots of duels offensively (targetman behavior), and draws a lot of fouls, but isn't much of a dribbler and wins almost exclusively with physicality which limits his effectiveness long term
💬 He's probably been better than Etta Eyong since he took over as the main man up front for Levante. Even if Eyong's benching was related to his transfer rejection of a move to Russia, Espí's performance has merited his continued minutes.
Some of this comps are quite interesting, you get a range of big Spanish targetmen like Rafa Mir and Juanmi Latasa, but also some winners like Dusan Vlahovic (who I don't think I rate as high as others, but this is still a big win of an outcome for a young ST). Where will he fall on this spectrum? Time will tell, but this is the archetype of player we're looking at.
