What Will Kevin Gameiro’s Game Offer PSG?

Leonardo’s decision to quit Inter this week sees the Nerazzurri seeking their third manager since Jose Mourinho left after leading the club to Champions League glory in 2009/10. The Brazilian’s move to oversee sporting operations at Paris Saint Germain highlights the ambitions of their new Qatari owners, as PSG look to conquer Ligue 1 next season following a disappointing fourth-place finish last time round.

On the playing front, PSG are expected to invest heavily and, having signed keeper Nicolas Douchez from Rennes, continued their summer spending spree with the capture of the much-coveted Lorient forward Kevin Gameiro for a fee in the region of 15m Euros.

Gameiro was a sensation last season, scoring 22 times -an incredible 48% of his side’s goals for the season- to finish second-top scorer in Ligue 1 and his firepower will surely boost the club’s chances of domestic success considerably.

How will he fit it at his new club? Here’s a look at Gameiro’s stats from last season in comparison to his fellow Lorient forwards and a look at what he will offer PSG:

Lorient
Gameiro averaged 3.1 Shots per game, by far the highest ratio in the division, with Youssouf Hadji of Nancy and PSG’s star winger Nene next best on 2.6, an indication of how impressive he was last season. In comparison to other leagues, this was the same average as Nani and just behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Villa.

He made 1.58 Key Passes per game -Lorient’s second best creative presence last term- but due to poor finishing from other picked up just 3 Assists for the campaign. Gameiro’s not one to take players on with any great regularity; he made just 1 Successful Dribble per match and his game is not based around aerial domination- he won just 17% of Aerial Duels.

Gameiro missed just two league games last term, and with 22 goals from 36 games with an average of 3.1 Shots, he scored 1 Goal every 5.07 Shots, indicative of his clinical eye for goal.

Playing in a 4-4-2 -identical to PSG’s main formation last season- Gameiro had two main strike partners last season, both with different aspects to their game.

Lynel Kitambala and Morgan Amalfitano both averaged 1.7 Shots per game but have vastly different stats otherwise- Kitambala, a more physical presence, is a real threat in the air and dovetailed perfectly with Gameiro, winning 44% of Aerial Duels. He made just 0.85 Key Passes per match whereas Amalfitano, a creative midfielder in the main,  averaged 2.2 Key Passes as a forward and was Fouled 2.6 times, an indication of the trickery and threat to opponents. For the season, he averaged 1.63, the team’s top creator.

Amalfitano didn’t impress in front of goal, though; in his ten games partnering Gameiro he failed to find the net even once, taking 17 Shots. Kitambala, on the other hand, scored 6 Goals in his 27 appearances, averaging 1 Goal every 7.65 Shots.

PSG
The club’s two main forwards last season were Mevlut Erding and Guillaune Hoarau, as the pair played 34 and 33 matches for the club respectively. Hoarau’s stas suggest that, of the two, he could be the ideal partner for Gameiro. He had more Shots than Hoarau (2.5 to 2.1), made more Key Passes (1.27 to 0.74) and perhaps crucially, won 55% of Aerial Duels to Erding’s 36%, a factor which will suit the new boy’s game.

Both Erding and Hoarau offered little in terms of beating opponents with the ball; the pair made just 0.4 Successful Dribbles apiece and Erding’s 1 Assist all season is a poor reflection on his creativity. Hoarau edged it on goals, with 9 to 8, but the pair’s poor finishing shows just what PSG lacked up front; Erding scored 1 Goal every 8.9 Shots and Hoarau 1 Goal every 9.21 shots, in comparison to Gameiro’s 1 every 5.07.

The talents of Nene were relied upon much too often last season at PSG, with the winger top for Both Goals (14)) and Assists (9). No surprise, then, to see him subsequently top for Shots and Key Passes, with 2.6 and 3.43 respectively. Nene’s Key Passes were on the same level as the much-heralded new Real Madrid signing, Nuri Sahin, and with that sort of quality service combined with Gameiro’s finishing, next season should prove a fruitful one for PSG, with more new acquisitions inevitably on the way.