THREAD: Right then, let’s talk about Rodrigo De Paul. He is an Argentina international & one of the finest midfield talents in Serie A. First off, this would be a ridiculous coup. He’s a phenomenal player courted by Juventus, AC Milan, Inter & Napoli & others. This is pretty big.

Rodrigo De Paul is a 26-year-old midfielder who is vice-captain for Udinese and has won 17 caps for Argentina since his international debut in 2018, but he is regarded as one of the top midfield talents in Europe who stated in March that he wanted to play in the Champions League.

De Paul is a supremely versatile and athletic box-to-box midfielder who predominantly plays as an 8 or a 10, though he can virtually play anywhere across the front line. He has been deployed as a secondary striker, defensive, central and attacking midfielder and as a winger.

HEAT MAPS: (2019/20: left, 2018/19 right). Last season, De Paul played on the right side of central midfield, making the majority of his match actions on the right side of the opposition half. His heat map in 2018/19 was flipped and was predominantly placed on the left side.

In July 2020, when Udinese head scout Andrea Carnevale was asked what his best position was, he described him as “a universal player. He can play in a three-man midfield, as a trequartista or an outside attacker.”

Udinese rejected a €33m bid from Inter for De Paul last summer, and Carnevale confirmed Napoli had also been monitoring his development: “A year ago we turned down a €33m bid for De Paul by Inter. He is a player that is well liked, Napoli have also been tracking him.”

Rodrigo De Paul played a key part in Argentina finishing third in the Copa America 2019, that propelled him into the media spotlight. He has played in a variety of roles for La Albiceleste. The latest being to the right of a midfield trio in a 4-2-3-1 under Lionel Scaloni.

De Paul is the standout Serie A star in a side that finished 13th and had sacked manager Igor Tudor and replaced him with Luca Gotti in November 2019. His numbers are superb, but also require additional context in a struggling side that scored just 37 goals in 38 games.

This is a remarkable statistic courtesy of @Playmaker_EN: No Serie A midfielder has been more productive in terms of goals and assists over the past two seasons than Rodrigo De Paul (16G, 14A) since 2018/19.

This stat deserves it’s own tweet: Only Alejandro Gomez created more big chances (28) than Rodrigo De Paul (32) in Serie A since the start of the 2018/19 season.

He was directly involved in 41 Serie A goals (20G, 21A) in his last 3 seasons, but conjures up chances for fun. De Paul created 175 chances in the last 2 Serie A seasons, only Alejandro Gómez (214) & Luiz Alberto (183) produced more. Last season he produced 2.3 chances per game.

His Serie A numbers for 2019/20 per 90: 76.7 touches, 49.8 passes, 20.9 final third passes, 6.3 long passes, 1.9 take-ons, 7.6 crosses, 5.9 duels won, 7.0 recoveries, 2.7 shots, 2.5 chances created, 2.4 times fouled and a 0.41 non-penalty goals & assists contribution.

Last season, De Paul scored 7 goals and registered 6 assists in 35 Serie A appearances, but his influence for Udinese side was far greater than that. @Smarterscout have De Paul as being involved in a remarkable 76% of the team’s attacking moves ending in a goal when on the pitch.

Rodrigo de Paul in Serie A over the last 3 seasons:

107 matches
20 goals
21 assists
79 shots on-target
242 chances created
45 big chances created
4589 ball carries
3209 succ. passes
827 progressive passes
601 duels won
592 recoveries
1827 final third passes
215 succ. take-ons