Role at Villareal
One of the most important things to understand Chukwueze’s style of play is his role in Setien’s setup at Villareal. When Emery was the coach of Villareal he required more defensive discipline and work rate even from his wingers however Setien gave Chukwueze the license to roam and drift infield.
Being an extremely left footed player Chukwueze is used as an inverted winger in Setien’s tactics. Towards the defensive third and the middle third Chuk likes to stay wide right and cuts more inside when approaching the final 3rd. Playing as the Right Winger in a 4-3-3 his movements depend on the opposite flank as much as the corresponding mezzala of his side (mostly Capoue). He would stay wide right to allow Capoue to make runs through the half spaces. Of course it is not excluded that while Chuk cuts inside, Capoue could overlap him.
Setien is a coach that grew up with Cryuffian philosophies which makes him very mindful of possession. Villareal averaged 60% possession for games after the World Cup which is the highest in La Liga. What Setien wanted from his front 3 was to pin the opposition defense back up to the half line by always creating a fear of counters. Chuk meanwhile was seen as the outlet to progress the ball from Villareal’s defensive half to the offensive half.
Also, last season Villareal mostly played with either a ball playing 9 or a false 9 in Jackson and Yeremy Pino. Pino would drop in between the lines to allow Chuk and the Left Winger to make runs ahead of him while he would collect the vertical pass and then turn it towards either of the wingers. Villareal usually liked to implement fast and direct attacks.
Perhaps this meant that they don’t like to cross the ball as much given how Villareal don’t have a physical presence upfront like how Milan Giroud. For this reason, Villareal only average 1.37 crosses per 90 as compared to Milan’s 2.32 crosses per 90. Wingers are instructed to rather take their man on and dribble inside the box before attempting low crosses or if that is not possible, they are asked to pass back and recycle possession to try and pierce the opposition defenders through the inside channels.
Strengths
Close Control and Dribbling: Close Control where the ball sticks to your feet like glue is an art that cannot be taught. It is a very rare skill. Something only the greats have done. Chukwueze has close control and it is extremely difficult to dispossess him. This is a skill that can come to use when Milan look to break down deep blocks
1v1 skills: His close control gives him ability to dribble out of tight spaces and change angles very quickly which helps to put defenders out of balance. It is a skill that helps you always get the better of your man
Pace: To beat your man you need pace not just without the ball but also with the ball. Chukwueze has tremendous pace and with a shot frame he is agile with and without the ball
Deft touches: Quick release of the ball takes out defenders very easily. Like Ruben Loftus Cheek showed in the build up to Romero’s goal, his touch created space and took defenders out of the sequence. Chukwueze can do the space inviting defenders to press him and then releasing quickly the ball to a teammate to take advantage of the space vacated by the defender.
Shooting: Chukwueze’s very underrated ability is his ability to get a shot out. He is able to generate lots of power and placement with his foot which is extremely difficult for keepers to save especially when it is placed very well
WEAKNESS
Physicality: Standing at 171 cm, the Nigerian isn’t the most sizeable player and can be prone to being roughed up a bit. It is difficult for people to catch up to him given his pace and his agility but knowing how Italian league and coaches think a player like Baschirotto would look to challenge him shoulder to shoulder to neutralize his threat.
Crossing: Once again this is very debatable given how Villareal don’t appear to be a team that likes to cross a lot. But Chukwueze barely crosses the ball and always attempts to take his man on rather than cross the ball but this also could be due to the fact that there aren’t very tall players (except defenders) in the Villareal team.
Lapses of concentration- Chuk is prone to passing errors when he takes his eye off the ball sometimes. He generates a few mis-passes which if he can iron out of his game can make him a top class player.
TACTICAL FIT
I don’t think there is a debate as to what position Chukwueze would play but how would Pioli use him is the big question. Given how Chukwueze is used to playing in a 4-3-3 and plays as an inverted winger similar to Messias, one can imagine he will be handed the same role.
Pioli likes to keep the size of the playing area compact vertically and horizontally meaning he employs a high defensive line and has his wingers cut inside to not allow the opposition to play out to the wings easily. While Chukwueze is not a pressing machine, he engages in cover shadows (man-oriented pressing) and cuts off passing options for the opposition.
Given how Chukwueze is used to playing next to a false 9/ ball playing 9 it makes all the sense that the Milan management actually got in Noah Okafor (previously targeting Thuram who is a ball playing striker) who is having the same characteristics as Chukwueze does occupy the vacated spaces. And at Villareal when he had a physical mezzala next to him who liked to advance forward, he now has a player with similar characteristics in Ruben Loftus Cheek at RCM/RM.
It has to be seen how Pioli deals with Chuk given how Setien didn’t give his wingers all the license to show case their individual ability or even cross the ball into the box whereas Pioli had given full freedom to Leao to choose the way he wanted to play to match his skillset.
STATISTICAL NUMBERS AND COMPARISON
So what story do the numbers say? To give a fair comparison I have used
X axis= Time the player took on a defender and beat him per 90 mins
Y axis = Shot creating actions + Goal Creating actions per 90
We can see that Chuk leads the pack with the most amount of defenders dribbled past while Pulisic (19/20) season considered and Leao come close to Chukwueze. Messias and Alexis are far off to the numbers put up by Chuk, Leao and Pulisic. Rebic (20/21 season numbers taken) is the worst of the lot. In terms of Shot and Goal creating actions Chuk comes behind Leao and Pulisic while Alexis, Messias and Rebic once again falls behind as it is common knowledge.
It is also worth noting that Leao and Chukwueze are very similar in terms of their style but what I observed is that style of dribbling seemed different. Leao liked to use his speed and physicality more and knock the ball forward and chase it while Chukwueze liked to keep the ball close to his feet and beat the defender. Graphics credit @DataMB_
CONCLUSION
Chukwueze had his breakthrough season in 2022/23 and approaching 24 years of age he is now on the verge of entering his peak. With Villareal looking for another mid-table season after Emery left them last season Chukwueze grabbed the move at the right time. Milan meanwhile has its fans prayers answered for a right winger since the time Suso left the club. With Pioli earmarking Chukwueze as his primary target and utilizing him for their last Non-EU spot over Taremi or Kamada, he now has his man and seems to have the tools to play better football.
Transfer Rating 9/10
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