With Gianluca Scamacca currently out on loan, another young Italian striker has taken his chance with the Neroverdi, Giacomo Raspadori. Raspadori was born in the city of Bentivoglio, in the Emilia-Romagna region, not far from Sassuolo. He came through the Sassuolo youth academy, and made his senior debut for Sassuolo in 2019, and has gone on to make almost 40 appearances for them since. This scout report will look at and analyze Raspadori’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as his tactical fit in Roberto de Zerbi’s Sassuolo side.
Tactical:
In Roberto de Zerbi’s 4-2-3-1 system, Raspadori is deployed as the sole #9 in the system. With a recent injury to Francesco Caputo, Raspadori has mainly had to fight with Gregoire Defrel for the starting #9 position, and he has taken it and not looked back. Raspadori offers an interesting skill set to de Zerbi as the lone striker. Standing at only 5’8” he is not one to be a target man and win many aerial duels for his side. Rather, he offers more in the build-up play for his side. When Raspadori notices that space in the midfield opens up, he will drop into a deeper position in the midfield pockets and call for the ball to feet. Raspadori is very good at holding the ball up, and will receive the ball with his back to goal, allowing the time and space for teammates to make runs beyond him.
Another strong suit of Raspadori is his ability to press in a high pressing system, something the de Zerbi implements at Sassuolo. When looking at the pressing statistics for Raspadori, you can see why de Zerbi has preferred him over the other striker options listed above. Compared against all forwards in Serie A this season, Raspadori ranks in the 74th percentile for pressures (17.14), the 93rd percentile for successful pressures (5.43), the 97th percentile for successful pressure % (31.7%), and in the 96th percentile for pressures in the attacking third (11.33). Giacomo Raspadori is a high work rate attacker, and would excel in any system that utilizes a high press.
He also has very good positional awareness, and is adept at making runs in behind. While he does not always receive the ball when making a run in behind, his runs are able to drag defenders and occasionally midfielders, out of position, which allows his teammates to receive the ball in more advanced positions. Raspadori’s xGChain of 0.67 (league average of 0.49) also illustrates how much he is involved in Sassuolo’s build-up play, as he is not solely a striker who stays on the shoulder of the last defender to only make runs in behind. Tactically, Raspadori offers a lot in the build-up for this Sassuolo side, and it will be interesting to see how Scamacca and Raspadori possibly dovetail together next season when Scamacca returns from loan.
Technical:
From a technical viewpoint, Raspadori has his positives and his negatives. Being a #9, one of Raspadori’s main jobs is to put the ball in the back of the net. So far this season, Raspadori has scored 6 goals from an xG of 5.09, so he is currently just outperforming his xG. His G90 of 0.46 puts him in the 62nd percentile of all forwards in Serie A, so just above average. When it comes to his composure in front of goal, it could be worked on, as with any young forward, but his ability to not favor a certain foot helps in front of goal. Out of Raspadori’s six goals this season, three were from his right foot, two with his left foot, and one from his head. His shot accuracy of 80% this season also shows that he does not force many shots, rather, he gets himself into good positions inside the 18-yard box to take an accurate shot. With this being Raspadori’s first full season as a senior player, he is outperforming expectations in front of goal, which bodes well for the future of the young Italian striker.
Shot creation is another aspect of Raspadori’s game that he performs well in. When looking first at shot-creating actions, Raspadori ranks in the 90th percentile, with 4.21 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes. A shot-creating action is any action that leads to a shot, and can include dribbles, fouls, and passes. He does, however, rank lower in goal-creating actions. For this statistic, Raspadori ranks only in the 73rd percentile, with 0.54 goal-creating actions per 90 minutes. As mentioned earlier, Raspadori often finds himself in deeper positions in midfield, allowing him to pick the ball up in pockets of space before turning to find a teammate in behind. One stat that illustrates this contribution that Raspadori offers to the team is his through balls. Compared to all Serie A forwards this season, Raspadori ranks in the 96th percentile for through balls, with 0.38 completed through balls per 90.
When it comes to dribbling, this is one aspect of Raspadori’s technical side that could be improved. While his close control can be good at times, and there are moments where he is able to turn into space with the ball at his feet, there are times where his dribbling leaves more to be desired, and an attack breaks down because he attempts to do too much. His 57.7% dribble success rate is not the worst for a striker, but definitely could improve as he starts to gain more experience of top flight football. The more striking issue comes with his control when the ball is at his feet. Raspadori averages 1.91 miscontrols per 90, putting him in the 84th percentile of all strikers in Serie A in that statistic. This is something that you commonly will see Raspadori do. Instead of finding an easy pass to a teammate to try and progress the ball further forward, Raspadori will try to slalom his way through multiple defenders, and as a result, either lose possession, or forget to bring the ball with him on some occasions. His first touch often lets him down as well, with good attacking chances going to waste because of this miscontrol. All in all, Raspadori has a lot of good things going for him technically, but as with most young strikers, has some things that he needs to work on as well.
Physical:
Being the type of striker that he is, Raspadori does not shy away from contact, but at the same time, he is not the best physically. This is illustrated by his duel success rate of only 45%, along with his aerial duel success rate of 30%. Being only 5’8” does limit Raspadori in the air, but he could very much improve on his normal duel success rate. From a defensive standpoint, Raspadori is not afraid to track back and help out defensively, and he will put a tackle in if it is needed. However, most of his defending is from the front, as shown by his tackles in each area of the field. Raspadori made 0.31 tackles per 90 in the attacking third, 0.15 in the middle third, and 0.09 in the defensive third. So, while he will track back and help defensively if needed, most of the time he will stay further advanced to be an outlet ball for a possible Sassuolo counter attack. A downside of his physicality in the attacking third is the amount of fouls that he commits. With 0.54 fouls committed per 90 minutes this season, Raspadori ranks in the 98th percentile for all Serie A forwards in this metric.
Summary:
It will be interesting to see where Giacomo Raspadori’s path takes him next season. With Roberto de Zerbi supposedly leaving the club to take over Shakhtar Donetsk, a new manager may well be in place at the MAPEI Stadium next season. There is also the possibility of a bigger club taking a chance on Raspadori next summer, with clubs such as Inter Milan and AC Milan linked with the 21-year old Italian forward. However, the most interesting scenario is his possible partnership with fellow youngster Gianluca Scamacca once he returns from his loan at Genoa. It will be interesting to see whether the two strikers are able to play together, or whether Sassuolo may sell one to build around the other. One thing is for sure though, Giacomo Raspadori has a bright future, and is a name that people will be hearing for years to come.
Brandon's Scouting Network 