The stats behind Moussa Niakhate’s signing for Forest

With a signing for Taiwo Awoniyi potentially on the horizon for the club, Mainz captain Moussa Niakhate is expected to be the next player to arrive at the City Ground.

The France U21 international has been a fixture in Mainz’s defence since joining the German outfit in 2018 and has since then established himself as one of the division’s most reliable defenders.

At the ripe age of 25, Niakhate is entering his prime years as a footballer and with his potential signing, Forest fans can expect an injection of quality as well as leadership at the back.

 

Proactive and modern defender

Under Bo Svensson, Mainz look to play on the front foot and are a very intense pressing team that make life difficult for opponents in the Bundesliga.

Their pressing numbers are up there with some of the best in the league. PPDA(Passed allowed per defensive action) is a metric used to measure the pressing intensity of teams by the Analyst and according to the metric, Mainz had the fourth most intense press in the Bundesliga in the 21-22 season with a PPDA of 11.4, just behind Koln, Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt.

Naturally, this demands more from each of the player and in that sense, Niakhate is a very proactive defender, averaging 12.17 pressures per90 as per Statsbomb from fbref. Those numbers place him in the 86th percentile for all central defenders for that metric across the top five leagues.

He also excels in tackling opponents and reading dangerous passes with timely interceptions. Averaging a combined 4.73 tackles and interceptions per90, Niakhate can hold his own in a defensive sense and is comfortable tracking runners in wide areas and pouncing on mistakes higher up the pitch.

For defensive actions including tackles and interceptions, Niakhate is in the 80th percentile or higher according to data from Statsbomb via FBref. Whilst this is expected at a team with Mainz’s resources, it will be crucial for Niakhate to be comfortable performing defensive actions in volume at Forest as well where no doubt they will be the underdog in a majority of games.

 

Threat from set-pieces as well

Last season, Mainz were a threat from set-pieces and scored 11 times from dead ball situations. However, that figure is actually an underperformance on the quality of chances that they created from set-pieces.

As per the Analyst, they had chances worth 16.40 xG from set pieces, so they underperformed by five goals which is a notable number in the wider context of their season as a whole.

Behind those strong underlying numbers for set-pieces are defenders like Niakhate, who has been an effective weapon for his team in those situations.

The former Metz defender scored four goals last season and had scored three in 20-21 before, so that is another side of his that can benefit Steve Cooper’s side in the Premier League where they will look to have marginal gains in their hope for survival.

 

Progressive passer from the back

Another strength that Niakhate brings to the table is his ability to progress the ball with his range of passing.

He is not much of a progressive carrier but is able to spread play and help his team get further up the pitch with his passes.

Niakhate averaged 4.42 progressive passes per90 as per Statsbomb via FBref, a figure which places him in the 90th percentile for all centre backs across the top five leagues.

With more than a few strengths that he brings to the table, Niakhate wil no doubt be a shrewd signing for Forest in their bid for Premier League survival.