Samu Omorodion: Did Chelsea miss out on a potential future star?
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With tremendous focus on youth, Chelsea, under Todd Boehly, have often attempted to acquire young players from all across the world with the intention of building a group that would dominate European football for years to come.
Despite the London team bursting with outstanding young attackers like Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu, the latest instance of this aggressive strategy was the unsuccessful pursuit of 20-year-old striker Samu Omorodion, a somewhat obscure player with great promise.
Although they agreed on a €40 million deal with Atletico Madrid and the teenager travelled to London to sign his seven-year contract and pass standard medical exams, the move fell through at the last hurdle due to a breakdown in personal terms.
In what was possibly the most dramatic transfer of the summer, Chelsea, in order to facilitate the departure of Cobham Academy graduate Conor Gallagher, were forced to reconsider their options among Atletico's forwards, eventually settling for the Portuguese Joao Félix.
Porto capitalised on Chelsea’s missed opportunity, swooping in to secure Samu Omorodion, and now, barely weeks after the saga, Omorodion is already making waves in Portugal, opening his goal account with a 75th-minute winner in only his second appearance for the club.
So did Chelsea let a potential star slip through their clutches? ZonalSports contrasts the attributes of Samu Omorodion with the top under-23 strikers in the world to unequivocally ascertain if Chelsea's choice to pass on him will come back to haunt them in the not too distant future.
Goal scoring and forward play
Over the past two seasons, Europe has experienced a dearth of strikers with killer instincts across all ages, but particularly among the younger demographic. And this is one attribute Samu appears to fall significantly short.
The striker scored nine goals in 35 games for Alaves, a frequency of 0.4 per game. This tally, significantly below par for any forward player, paled in comparison to 21-year-old metric leader Benjamin Sesko of Leipzig (0.8), who scored a healthy 14 goals in 31 games.
The Spanish youngster ranks 5th among his contemporaries, with Premier League strikers Rasmus Hojlund of Manchester United (0.4) and Evan Ferguson of Brighton (0.4) slightly ahead.
However, Samu's uninspiring output is not due to a lack of effort, as the striker boasts excellent movement, as evidenced by the quality of his chances from last season.
In fact, the Atletico Academy graduate ranks in the upper echelons of La Liga for expected goals, and he is the pacesetter among his peers. However, profligate finishing let him down, resulting in 19 missed big chances last season.
Still, his expected goal average is in the same bracket as Victor Osimhen, Dusan Vlahovic, and Lautatro Martinez, the three leading scorers of the Italian Serie A.
In his age group, Benjamin Sesko comes closest in Europe's top leagues, but he is still considerably behind Chelsea's signing in this aspect.
Shooting is one aspect of forward play that is synonymous with goal scoring: the more shots, the greater your chances of scoring.
For context, the top five scorers in the Premier League last season averaged 3.12 shots per game to return 108 goals.
In this aspect, Samu is the pick of the bunch in his age group, averaging three shots per game to just edge Benjamin Sesko (2.8) and 22-year-old Arnaud Kalimuendo of Rennes (2.5).
Aerial
Chelsea were the Premier League's fourth-best for headed goals and 16th among Europe's top clubs, so a striker in this mould checks every box.
At 1.93 m, Samu would have been one of the league's tallest players, just 1 cm shorter than Haaland.
He put this height advantage to effective use, scoring as much headed goals as Nicolas Jackson (3), albeit less than Benjamin Sesko's five.
When it comes to air tussles, the Spaniard is joint-top alongside 20-year-old Oscar Vilhelmsson of Darmstadt (2.9) and considerably ahead of Benjamin Sesko (2.2)
Ball-playing skills and chance creation
While Haaland's success in a pass-obsessed side like Manchester City has demystified the need for a ball-playing striker, it remains a sought-after attribute for possession-based coaches like Enzo Maresca.
Even if the centre forward doesn't have the exquisite touches of R9 or Thierry Henry, they must be able to bring his teammates into play.
Samu Omorodion is involved in 1.46 of the buildup of his team's chances per game, which is quite low, as a score of 2.5 is the typical indicator of a competent striker. Arnaud Kalimuendo with a score of 2.95 more than doubles Omorodion's numbers, while 21-year-old Rasmus Hojlund of Manchester United is also significantly ahead at 2.46.
For context, Haaland's involvement rate is 2.08, Osimhen 2.45, and Harry Kane 2.63.
As a result of this, Omorodion creates only 0.7 chances per game for his teammates, which is significantly lower than Kalimuendo (1.2) and Hojlund (1.1).
His average expected assists per game is 0.03, way behind 21-year-old Elye Wahi of Lens (0.5) and Kalimuendo (0.1).
However, chance creation is not a mandatory attribute of a talented centre forward, especially with Chelsea boasting some outstanding playmakers in Kiernan Drewsbrew-Hall, Cole Palmer, and, to some extent, Christopher Nkunku.
Final verdict: Was Omorodion a missed opportunity?
Having assessed his current performance metrics, Chelsea's initial decision to sign Samu Omorodion over established strikers, despite his unproven status and the presence of other promising young talents within their squad, would have been a shrewd investment.
While Omorodion’s current performance metrics, including his goal-scoring rate and chance creation, show room for improvement, his attributes suggest significant upside.
His goal-scoring efficiency is currently below that of some peers, and although he has demonstrated strong shooting habits, his finishing needs to be more clinical.
Additionally, compared to other young strikers, his involvement in build-up play and chance creation is somewhat limited, which might have impacted his effectiveness in Enzo Maresca's possession-based system. However, the unwavering success of Erling Haaland, whose ability on the ball has faced criticism, is an inspiring reference point.
Positively, Omorodion's physical presence, particularly his height and aerial ability, would have provided a valuable asset to Chelsea, complementing their previous success in this area.
While his inconsistent conversion rate highlighted the need for improved finishing skills for full chance capitalisation, Omorodion's expected goal metrics indicate that he always gets into excellent positions to score
Considering his initial cost of 40 million euros, Samu Omorodion would have been a good signing well-positioned to develop into a more effective forward as he refines his finishing.