The transfer window for this summer was quite an odd one, with clubs at all levels hit hard financially due to the ongoing pandemic, and thus there was a shortage of truly blockbuster deals. Most clubs tried to look for value wherever possible, and those which had sellable players tried to extract the maximum possible price for them.

Leicester City were one such club, who managed to get a £45 million fee for their left-back Ben Chilwell from Chelsea. That represented the only significant sale for a fee made by the Foxes in this window, and so it was necessary that they did not go overboard with their spending to bring players in. Thus, it was quite interesting that Leicester chose to bring in a relatively young attacking player in Cengiz Ünder on loan from AS Roma.

The club have paid a loan fee of nearly £3 million to the Italian club for Ünder, and also have the option to make the deal permanent at the end of the season. Given the struggles that Leicester have had on their right flank over the last couple of years, the Turkish international could turn out to be a very good signing for the Foxes if Brendan Rodgers can unlock his potential. We will take a look at Ünder’s playing profile, his strengths and weaknesses, and where he can fit in at Leicester City, in this scout report.

Playing profile

Ünder is a 23-year-old winger, who has predominantly played on the right flank, as his career heatmap shows –

He made 88 appearances in all competitions for Roma since joining them in 2017, scoring 17 goals and notching 12 assists in that time. He is a very modern winger, in the sense that he is a left-footed player playing on the right flank, and so he looks to cut inside more often than not rather than trying to go on the outside of the full-back. This does make him slightly predictable, but can be a dangerous weapon if used judiciously. This is also a point of difference in the Leicester attack, as they currently do not have this profile of player within their squad, and have arguably lacked an effective one ever since Riyad Mahrez was sold to Manchester City. Marc Albrighton and Demarai Gray are both right-footed and so would be much more orthodox wingers when played on the right, as is Harvey Barnes, although he usually plays on the left.

The Turkish international is also quite a direct winger, and is adept at carrying the ball upfield, using his pace and dribbling to evade challenges, while off the ball, his movement is extremely intelligent as well. All of these attributes mean that there is a spot in the first-team immediately available for the 23-year-old if he shows enough glimpses of his talent during his time in the Midlands.

Statistical comparison

Before looking at his attributes and style of play, it will be interesting to do a statistical comparison of Ünder with other wingers in Serie A over last season, as well as with his teammates at Leicester City. For this comparison, we have only looked at wingers who played more than 900 minutes in Serie A last season.

The first two metrics we will look at are expected goal contributions (xG+xA) per 90 minutes, and goal contributions (goals+assists) per 90 minutes, to see if Ünder managed to do better than expected in terms of goal contributions, and also where he stacked up when compared to his peers in the league –

The above comparison shows that Ünder underperformed his expected goals contribution tally last season, but on further digging, it becomes apparent that this was through arguably no fault of his own. He scored three goals from an xG tally of 2.39, but got zero assists, despite an xA tally of 2.96. This shows that the chances he created for his teammates were not put away, even though the argument can be made that his goal and assist numbers are not especially high. Nevertheless, he was not particularly poor, featuring in the middle of the pack, so to speak, with the likes of Napoli winger Lorenzo Insigne also posting similar numbers.

It will be quite informative to look at Ünder in the context of his Leicester teammates, which is what we have done in the chart below. As a note, Gray has been included here despite playing less than 900 minutes last season –

Here, however, Ünder actually underperformed in comparison to his new teammates. Gray is actually the best in terms of outperforming the expected goals and assists metrics, although this may be somewhat explained by a small sample size of just 723 minutes played in the league last season. However, Barnes and Ayoze Pérez also scored and assisted more than the models suggested they would, and thus outperformed Ünder. The Turkish winger was almost level with Albrighton for actual goal contributions per 90 minutes last season, but he had a higher expected goal and assist tally.

While these numbers may make it seem as though the Turkish winger is not really an upgrade on Leicester’s existing crop of wingers, it will be beneficial to take a look at some other stats as well before arriving at that conclusion.

First up, when looking at a winger, it is extremely important to note their dribbling proficiency, since that is one of the most important traits of a winger. Thus, we will look at dribbling frequency per 90 minutes and dribble success rate in the next chart –

It is clear from this chart that Ünder was one of the most high-volume dribblers among Serie A wingers last season. The 23-year-old averaged 8.12 dribbles/90 minutes in the league last season, which was the fourth-highest in our sample, and did so with a credible success rate of 58.8%. This shows just how much of a threat he can be when facing a defender one-on-one, and that he can be relied on to get past his man and get into dangerous situations. In relation to this, it is also interesting to note the locations in which he has made his dribbles, specifically in the final third of the pitch, in the last calendar year –

This map shows that the vast majority of his dribbles came on the right side of the pitch, with his tendency to cut inside also reflected in the number of incidents in the right half-space, as well as in the penalty area. The accompanying numbers also make for interesting reading, as, according to Wyscout, Ünder, or his team rather, kept possession after more than 74% of the dribbles he attempted over this time. This is an excellent ratio, and it is also reflected in the wide variety of positional opponents he faced. Moreover, Ünder got 40 shots off after these incidents, which comes to nearly one in every three dribble attempts. These stats show how attacking and direct he is while dribbling, and bode well for Leicester if they can manage to get him in isolation against an opposition player.

For the sake of clarity, we also looked at Ünder’s stats in comparison with the Leicester wingers. We have not made a chart to compare this, but the Turkish winger came out on top for both metrics, with Gray being the closest to him on 6.97 dribbles/90, and Barnes having the closest success rate at 56.5%.

Next, we will look at Ünder’s creativity in comparison with other Serie A wingers. With a lethal poacher like Jamie Vardy leading the line for Leicester, it will be extremely important for whoever plays on the flanks to provide adequate service to him, especially as the Englishman’s game has been pared down for him to be extremely efficient in front of goal. We will look at key passes per 90 and passes to the penalty area per 90 as the two metrics in this regard –

Once again, we can see that Ünder was one of the most dangerous wingers in Serie A last season in terms of creativity. He averaged 0.97 key passes per 90, which put him fifth in our sample, while also managing 5.06 passes to the penalty area, for which he was sixth in this sample of 50 wingers. Ünder was therefore perhaps quite unlucky to end up with no assists last season, as the underlying numbers clearly show that he was a creative outlet for Roma, and with a striker like Jamie Vardy leading the line, we may see the winger set up goals more frequently during his stint at the King Power Stadium.

We have looked at his stats in comparison with Leicester’s existing wingers as well, and the Turkish winger comes out on top for key passes per 90 here, while Marc Albrighton was the only one to make more passes to the penalty area than him (6.35 per 90 minutes).

Playing style and attributes

Now that we have a fair idea of Ünder’s statistical profile in comparison to both Serie A wingers as well as his positional rivals at Leicester City, it would make sense to move on to a more in-depth look at his ability on the pitch.

Dribbling and ball-carrying

The stats have already shown how Ünder is a prolific and fairly successful dribbler, and this trait can become a very potent attacking threat for the Foxes, especially in games where Rodgers sets them up in a deep defensive block, with a view to counter-attacking, where Ünder’s ability to beat his man and carry the ball could be important. The stats show that Ünder made just over four progressive runs per 90 minutes last season, ranking him in 4th place among our sample of Serie A wingers, and so he can be expected to be a threat while carrying the ball.

One example of his pace and the ability to go past his man can be seen in the images below, taken from a game against Cagliari –

Ünder intercepts the ball midway in his own half, with the ball ricocheting off him into space

He then takes on the Cagliari defender, and having pushed the ball past him, accelerates into space, moving infield towards goal.

Having come inside in this manner, Ünder is extremely unlucky to see his powerful left-footed shot come off the crossbar.

Another instance from the same match, where he was once again unlucky, this time to be denied an assist –

Once again, the move starts with Ünder intercepting a Cagliari pass, this time in the Cagliari half

This quickly transitions into him bursting past the Cagliari midfielder and bearing down on goal

Having drawn two defenders towards him, he spots his teammate in space on the edge of the box and is able to find him with a pass, but is denied an assist when the subsequent shot hits the crossbar and goes out

Being a left-footed player playing on the right, Ünder’s tendency is always to come inside, but he is also capable of going on the outside, while his ability to ghost past defenders allows him to come into pockets of space in the half-space, from where he can then choose to cross, shoot or pass, based on the opportunity available.

Movement and intelligence

Being a winger in the modern game requires more than just crossing and dribbling ability. The move towards inverted wingers has meant that wide players are expected to participate in build-up play more than ever before, while also needing to get onto the end of passes into the box to finish off moves, and to create space for overlapping full-backs. Thus, intelligence and clever movement are key to being a top-class winger, and Ünder has shown enough glimpses of his potential in this regard.

It is important to note that Roma played with a back three quite often last season, and so Ünder has featured as a wide attacker in that system. That experience could be useful to Rodgers, who has used a back three quite a few times as well, most notably in the recent 5-1 away win over Manchester City, and Ünder could be a capable player in that system as a supporting attacker from out wide.

Another important point is the type of striker that Ünder has played with at Roma. Edin Džeko was the lone striker on most occasions for Roma, which meant that Ünder would often be able to spin in behind, as the Bosnian would drop deep to link play. On other occasions, the Turkish international would be required to go out wide and cross the ball for the target man. There were also games where Roma played with Diego Perotti as a false nine, which once again gave Ünder the opportunity to make runs into space behind the defensive line.

The variety and intelligence of his movement can be seen in these examples –

As soon as Chris Smalling steps out of the back, Ünder is looking over his shoulder at Lorenzo Pellegrini’s movement, as the midfielder makes himself available for a pass

He makes a burst beyond the Sampdoria defender into space, with Pellegrini playing a first-time pass which is unfortunately intercepted by the covering Sampdoria defender

Of course, we have already spoken about Ünder’s pace, which he utilises quite often to make runs in behind the opposition’s defensive line –

Ünder comes short to draw the Cagliari defender out, and then makes a dart in behind, which is read by Bryan Cristante, who sweeps a long pass towards him, but the pass is intercepted by the goalkeeper before the winger can get onto it

Another example of Ünder using his pace to get behind the defensive line. Henrikh Mkhitaryan drops deep into midfield to pick up the ball, and Ünder takes advantage of the space that is created to make a run in behind as soon as the Armenian gets on the ball. Once again, it is only the keeper sweeping up behind the Lecce defence which prevents Ünder from getting into a dangerous position in the box

These are just a few examples which show how the winger likes to run in behind whenever possible, but is intelligent enough to vary his approach based on his teammate’s movement. He is clever at finding space as a result, and with the likes of Youri Tielemans and James Maddison playing in Leicester’s midfield, he can be almost assured of being found if he makes the right run.

Passing

While Ünder is by no means an expansive or extremely creative passer, he is good enough to be able to keep possession ticking over, while also being able to attempt through balls for teammates making runs ahead of him. His role on the right of Roma’s attacking trio usually meant that he was tasked with being a threat through his speed, direct running and movement, and thus did not need him to be an especially creative passer.

We will look at some pass maps from Wyscout which will show his tendencies while passing –

This first map shows all the shot assists that Ünder made over the last calendar year, with their recipients listed next to the map. It is clearly evident that a large number of these were dangerous, as can be seen from the xA totals, while we can also see that the majority of them came from areas on the right flank, either out wide, or in more central areas, which is in keeping with his general positioning.

This map shows the 23-year-old’s passing in key attacking areas of the pitch. As the rays show, Ünder is a relatively safe passer in deeper areas, managing to keep possession with the majority of his passes, while also keeping them short and simple. This is a reflection of the largely safe role he plays when in possession in deep areas, but this changes when he is wide on the right higher up the pitch. He attempts longer passes and crosses into the box, which are much less successful as a result, but can also be relied upon to pull the ball back to midfielders or a full-back arriving in support.

Finally, we look at his deliveries into the penalty area from the final third of the pitch. As the table shows, Ünder had an accuracy rate of nearly 66% for passes into the area, while his cross success rate was also a very credible 39%. These numbers show that Ünder is able to find his teammates with risky passes into dangerous areas quite often as well, which makes him a very effective attacker. Once again, the map shows most of his actions taking place from the right flank, but it is notable as to how many of them are ball carries on his own, as shown by the blue arrows, with almost all of them being made through the right half-space into the penalty area.

Conclusion

Cengiz Ünder is an extremely direct, pacy winger, who has the ability to go past his direct opponent and then set up a chance for a teammate. Being a left-footed player playing on the right, his natural tendency is to come inside, which creates space for an attacking full-back on the overlap, and also allows him to move into dangerous areas from where he can then pass or shoot if found by his teammates. In terms of this Leicester side, he could be a very good fit on the right flank. Ricardo Pereira, once fit, will offer a very attacking right-back option, who would be able to take advantage of the space on the overlap that is created by Ünder’s movement.

The likes of Tielemans and Maddison should enjoy playing with him, as he makes intelligent runs which they would be able to spot, while Vardy should be able to take advantage of his carries and passes into the box and finish them off. The Turkish international could therefore be a good, smart addition to this Leicester side, and it will be very interesting to see his progress as the season goes on.