Each day we pick out a player and cut through the noise to give analytical, objective insight. Friday's focus is Everton-linked attacking midfielder Isco.
- Age: 30
- Position: Attacking midfield
- Club: Free Agent
- Country: Spain
Having moved to Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan after nine seasons at the Bernabeu, Isco has featured 19 times this campaign for Sevilla in all competitions – as a starter on all but three occasions.
While his versatility has led him to be deployed both in a central berth - his out-and-out position - and wide on the left, as was the case through much of Sevilla's Champions League group stage campaign this season, Isco has consistently taken up attack-focused roles.
Yet while his envious passing stats, which see him in LaLiga's 92nd percentile for medium-range pass completion - 87.9% - and in the 83rd percentile for overall pass accuracy with 83%, stand him out in terms of link-up play, his attack-based stats fail to hit the same heights.
Failing to score this season, Isco's struggles in front of the posts have been the story of his career over the past few seasons - he's found the net just twice since the start of the 2019/20 campaign.
And this doesn't merely look to be a case of a creative midfielder who just lacks finishing ability; not once in that timeframe as the Spaniard's xG for the season peaked at higher than 2.1, suggesting the problem lies with a lack of attacking threat altogether.
Such a weakness is laid bare when drawing comparisons and other players used in an attacking midfield role.
In terms of assists, it's true that Isco's numbers stand up reasonably well against key Premier League men such as Manchester City's Bernardo Silva, Chelsea's Mason Mount and Andreas Pereira of Fulham.
The ex-Sevilla player comes in at 0.19 xA/90, better than Bernardo Silva's 0.16 and Mount's 0.18 and comparable to Andreas Pereira's 0.23.
However, the differences are clear when you factor in expected goals per 90 minutes at the same time (xG/90). Isco's 0.05 in this season's LaLiga is noticeably lower than the stats for all four other men, with Bernardo Silva his nearest competitor at 0.09 - almost double.
The knock-on effect is that a combination of the two matrixes - xGI/90 (expected goal involvements per 90) - shows Isco cannot match players in his position for overall goal contributions.
While his versatility is undeniable, creativity hasn't been matched by the direct xG metric, leading to questions of his effectiveness in England's top-flight.
