Fantasy Transfer Series - U23 Serie A Players Who Could step in for Franck Kessie at AC Milan

 Franck Kessie (24) has been a massive part of AC Milan's recent resurgence. However, the player will be away for a significant number of weeks during the winter due to the African Cup of Nations. In this piece we will take a look at Kessie's npxG + xA (non-penalty expected goals + expected assists) as of this season, along with his average of  % of dribblers tackled + % of successful pressures, and then go over which Serie A central midfielders (23 and under) could potentially step into the Ivorian's shoes this winter. Obviously these metrics are not the only key performance indicators when it comes to recruiting players, however, they are certainly key ones when it comes to looking at both the attacking and defensive phases of the game for an individual player.

*Data from StatsBomb* 

*Players looked at are central midfielders and defensive midfielders as per Transfermarkt*

Franck Kessie - CM - AC Milan/Ivory Coast

npxG + xA = 1.4

 

Defensive % = (Average % of successful tackles + % of successful pressures) = 47.75%  

  Now to take a look at the 5 players that could potentially replace Franck at the San Siro:

 

Teun Koopmeiners (23) - Atalanta

 npxG + xA = 2.1

Defensive % = 40.15%

 

Giulio Maggiore (23) - Spezia

 npxG + xA = 3.1

Defensive % = 33.6%

 

Mattias Svanberg (22) - Bologna

npxG + xA = 2.4

Defensive % =  33.75%

Tommaso Pobega (22) - Torino

npxG + xA = 1.8

Defensive % =  39.45%

Nicolas Dominguez (23) - Bologna

npxG + xA = 1.9

Defensive % = 38.75%

Davide Frattesi (22) - Sassuolo

npxG + xA = 3.6

Defensive % = 29.7%

Each of these players have interesting statistics across the board and just as interestingly would not 'break the bank' when it comes to a potential transfer. Teun Koopmeiners leads the price tag list with a transfer value of 16.5 million Euros, Mattias Svanberg at 12 million Euros, Nicolas Dominguez at 10 million Euors, Davide Frattesi at 8.5 million Euros, Tommaso Pobega at 8 million Euros, Giulio Maggiore at 7.5 million Euros. All solid choices for the Rossoneri. 

My Final Verdict To Sign: Mattias Svanberg. Player has great quality, lots of energy when it comes to offensive and defensive work rate. Would be difficult as his market value is over 10 million Euros, but I do believe the investment in Mattias would be a great deal for AC Milan in the present and long term.