Lille did some good business when they signed Angel Gomes from Manchester United in 2020. The young Englishman has gone on to impress in the French top flight and has plenty of admirers. One of them is the current Lille manager, Paulo Fonseca, under whom Gomes has made 24 appearances for Lille in Ligue 1 2022/23. Angel Gomes began his career with Manchester United at a very young age and progressed through the club’s academy. He made the move to Ligue 1 in quest of more game time and has deservingly received it playing for Lille in France. Gomes’ preferred position is as an attacking midfielder. His creativity, composure, and dribbling make him seem like he sees the game seconds before others and can dictate a game with his intelligence. We now look at some of his stats while playing for Lille in the French top flight.
Gomes has appeared in 24 games for Lille in Ligue 1 and has scored two goals along with four assists. The Englishman plays as a left-defensive midfielder and as an attacking midfielder for his side. The above viz shows the percentile rank of the players in comparison to other left-defensive midfielders in the league. Gomes has more contributions on the offensive side and holds a high percentile rank. He has a good shooting technique and is also ranked highly for expected goal contributions. Although, he ranks low in the defensive departments but compensates heavily by contributing to attack and possession for his side.
Gomes’ goal contributions
Angel Gomes averages 1.51 shots and 0.18 assists per 90 minutes. The shot map shows that he has attempted most of the shots from outside the penalty box. He has scored one goal from outside the penalty box. All the shots attempted by the 22-year-old have come from central areas in front of the goal. As for the shot assists, a few have been made from corners, while the others have been passes attempted into the opposition’s penalty box.
Creative gameplay
Angel passes the ball 51.79 times per 90 minutes and has an accuracy rate of 89%. These include 7.11 passes to the final third and 1.7 to the penalty box per 90 minutes. His chart of progressive passes shows that most of the passes to the penalty box have come from directly in front of the box. His ability to deliver the balls in a straight line into dangerous areas and find half-spaces is an asset as they may lead to goals.
The Englishman also puts pressure on opponents high up the pitch. The above viz depicts the high regains made by him in Ligue 1 2022/23. It can be seen that he made one dangerous recovery on the left edge of the penalty box and three of them outside the box in front of the goal. He has contributed to 24 high regains and 30 counter-pressing recoveries. He averages 4.72 recoveries per 90 minutes.
Improvement from last season
Last season, he appeared in 24 matches for Lille and scored one goal and provided one assist. The midfielder averaged 33.63 passes per 90 minutes and had an 80.9% accuracy rate. By looking at the map above for progressive passes, we can observe that the midfielder made most of his action down the left. This season, he has been given much more freedom and has the option and ability to add more variety on the pitch.
Overall, Angel Gomes is a young and talented player who has creative ability beyond his years. He has provided his explosiveness on the pitch for Lille and has helped his side control the game in the middle of the park. Lille are currently in sixth place with 44 points and are surely desperate to close the gap between them and the top three. Fonseca has depended on Gomes and sees plenty of potential in him, with both hopeful and positive results.
Visuals via TFA data viz engine
