Angel Gomes was considered one of the biggest talents to graduate from Manchester United’s academy. The midfielder won the U17 World Cup in 2017, held in India. Despite having a great time at the lower levels of football, they failed to get into the first team at Old Trafford. The club decided to sell him, and now the player is enjoying his football in France.
French club Lille decided to acquire the services of the young Englishman in 2020. Angel Gomes has made his way into the first team and even won the U21 Euro with England in the summer of 2023. Now, he has grown in confidence, and the manager also has faith in the midfielder. Let’s look at some of the stats that show how Gomes is on the verge of a breakthrough at Lille.
Key midfield figure
Lille plays with two central midfielders, and Gomes is usually there in the starting lineup. The 23-year-old is responsible for distributing the ball to his teammates standing in different areas of the pitch.
This season, Gomes has a high passing accuracy rate of 92%. His pass map above shows that Gomes mostly tries to make lateral passes. His creative side allows the player to attempt a few diagonal passes, which are often directed towards the flanks.
These are the progressive passes that the player has already made in the 2023–24 season. As mentioned earlier, most of the progressive passes are directed towards the flanks. The passes that landed inside the opposition’s penalty box were not straight passes. They are usually attempted at an angle and look like diagonal passes.
Angel Gomes maintains his position in the middle of the park and likes to progress with the ball through the centre. The above viz shows that all the progressive runs have been made through the centre, and a few came from inside the defensive half. He is more of a creative player than a runner.
Creativity
In the 2022–23 season, Gomes provided five assists for his team. These came from 30-shot assists. By looking at the above viz, we can observe that Gomes is good with set pieces and has an assist from a corner. Other than this, most of the passes that he has delivered into the penalty box have been diagonal, like the progressive passes attempted this season.
This season, the 23-year-old already has one assist to his name. The shot assists have been directed towards similar areas inside the opposition penalty box. Gomes is yet to stretch the defence and attempt a shot assist from his preferred position, i.e., from the edge of the penalty box.
Angel Gomes is one of the upcoming English internationals. He is having a decent time at Lille and might catch the eye of his former club. Lille will expect more productivity from their English midfielder, and the youngster will hope to get a breakthrough.
Visuals via TFA data viz engine
