Saul Niguez

Saul Niguez
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Saul Niguez Esclapez





Current Club: Atletico Madrid.

Previous Clubs: Real Madrid.

Loan Clubs: Rayo Vallecano.





International: Spain 15 caps 2 goals.

Trophies Won: Spanish Cup 2012/13, Spanish Super Cup 2014/15, Europa League 2017/18, 2011/12, European Under 19 Championships 2013, UEFA Supercup 2018/19.





A midfielder who is comfortable playing anywhere across the midfield, from the left side to the right and anywhere inbetween, though he is at his best as a central midfielder. Saul can score goals, he has excellent striking technique, but that is one aspect of his game that he does not make enough of.



Playing under Diego Simeone, he is more used to hard graft, chasing back and winning tackles and putting the ball into Antoine Griezmann, than he is to driving forward and taking on a shot. For Spain, he does get a bit more freedom. Saul is very much a Simeone-type of player, being quick, strong and aggressive, always willing to put a foot in and make a challenge.



On the ball he has a good range of passing and the vision to spot a pass, often being almost a playmaker, in as much as a Simeone side ever uses one anyway. It is mostly with Spain that he gets to show his ability to pick passes and get involved linking up play in a possession-based style. With Atleti, it is very much about getting the ball forward quickly into dangerous areas for the opponent.



When used in wide areas, he is not a tricky, beating players with a mazy dribble, type of winger. It is more about whipping good balls into the box from wide areas, and he can whip in an excellent cross. With his willingness to get up and down the pitch and the engine to do so, he is very nearly as effective out wide as he is centrally. Though he does not really have the pace to run in behind, he is not slow, just not a whippet type of player. In fact he has decent speed.



He is fairly tall, being 6ft, and decent in the air, very useful in helping out defensively on set pieces and fairly good at attacking them too. His main issues are that he is not quite top level creatively speaking, he does not have that Andres Iniesta brilliance of pulling a pass out of nowhere or skipping past challenges before finishing.



Saul does not tend to attack the box much, he is more of an edge of the box lurker, waiting for a loose ball to break when a cross is put in. The other big issue with him is his aggression, which can be a little too much at times, though that is very much in line with the way Simeone wants the team to play, so maybe that is down to instructions.



Right now he is one of the best central midfielders in Europe and he is improving each season. He just needs to add more goals and creativity to his game and look to drive forward with the ball at his feet more.



Requested by - scholes_18_18