Football from across the globe is easier to consume than ever before, but international tournaments still provide a good opportunity to see players who might otherwise slip under the radar.
This has proved to be the case for Liverpool supporters as they watch Euro 2020, as many of them have been impressed by Portugal’s Renato Sanches.
The Lille midfielder has been linked with a move to Anfield this summer, and the whispers will continue to grow until the Reds sign a replacement for Gini Wijnaldum.
Indeed, fresh speculation from L’Equipe in France suggests Liverpool and Arsenal are both keen on a deal.
With two years remaining on his contract, it would be a good time for the French champions to sell Sanches if they are looking to extract maximum value from him.
One of the golden rules in the book Soccernomics is that ‘stars of recent World Cups or European Championships are overvalued.’
People can be too easily dazzled by a stand out performance in the small sample of a summer tournament and pay over the odds for a player who never burns as brightly ever again.
Toto Schillaci won the Golden Boot at Italia ’90 but only scored one more goal for his country after that, for instance. However, in the case of Sanches, the 23-year-old has merely been playing to his existing strengths for his country.
If you only paid attention to Premier League football, you would recall his spell at Swansea City in 2017/18 and wonder what the fuss is about.
Twelve appearances for a side which was ultimately relegated will always tell you far less than a career spent winning four league titles in three different countries will though.
Clearly the analytics department at Liverpool pay closer attention to long term trends rather than loan spells or international football too, and there’s every chance they will have been enthralled by what they have seen.
Fans have been mesmerised by his ability to drive forward with the ball and play incisive passes into the final third. The numbers back up just how strong the Portuguese international is in these areas.
As of July 1st - among midfielders with at least 180 minutes played at Euro 2020, only three had completed more dribbles pro-rata ( per FBRef ), with Sanches averaging 2.5 per 90 minutes.
This is identical to his rate over the last 365 days with Lille, which puts him in the top three percent of midfielders in Europe’s big five leagues for this metric.
He dribbles with purpose too. Statsbomb define progressive carries as those in the front 60 percent of the pitch which move the ball forward at least five yards, and/or into the penalty area.
Sanches has averaged 10 progressive carries per 90 minutes this summer, and while that’s up on his 7.75 for Lille, currently only six percent of big league midfielders possess a higher average.
His ability on the ball has caught the eye too, be that via delicious cross field balls or more direct efforts towards the opposition goal.
As Liverpool love to get the ball quickly to their marauding full-backs, this is exactly the kind of attribute which they covet from a midfielder.
However, they also look for durability, and on this front Sanches’ case for a move to Anfield falls down somewhat.
Since bursting onto the scene as a 17-year-old for Benfica in 2015/16, the Lille man has not started more than 16 league matches in a season thanks to a host of fitness issues.
Having lost the almost continually available Wijnaldum, Liverpool may wish to acquire a midfielder with a better record of health.
But his numbers undoubtedly stack up. It’s interesting to see that Statsbomb’s data declares that Florian Neuhaus is the fourth most statistically similar player to Sanches at present ( via FBRef ).
Liverpool have been monitoring the situation with Neuhaus, and he could still be a possibility despite interest cooling and the Reds opting not to trigger the player's £34.25million release clause before it expired.
While back in December, club sources insisted Sanches was not on the radar.
Whether either man joins Liverpool remains to be seen but they are obviously the type of player which the club has in mind this summer as decision-makers mull over the best course of action without Wijnaldum.
With Sanches, it’s very easy to see why.
*A version of this article was originally published on 1st July.
