Dani Olmo, ‘playmaker’ in Leipzig

Category: Player Analysis

On 25 January 2020, RB Leipzig signed one of the most sought-after players outside the big leagues. His name was Dani Olmo, he had dominated Croatian football at Dinamo Zagreb, he had been outstanding in the Spanish youth teams and he arrived at a team where he had everything to stand out as a midfielder […]

Published:07/04/2021

On 25 January 2020, RB Leipzig signed one of the most sought-after players outside the big leagues. His name was Dani Olmo, he had dominated Croatian football at Dinamo Zagreb, he had been outstanding in the Spanish youth teams and he arrived at a team where he had everything to stand out as a midfielder or winger in any of the systems used by Julian Nagelsmann. Among his qualities were his great ability to play between the lines, his ball control, his key pass and his goalscoring ability.

However, their first months were not easy. The Spaniard needed time to adapt to the country and the German coach’s ideas, while Timo Werner, in his last months as a player at the club, was the offensive leader. From being the boss in Zagreb, Olmo had to assimilate his role and his place in the German machine. The data from the time he arrived until the end of the season reflected a remarkable margin for improvement in everything related to intervention, participation and playmaking.

And it is precisely this margin for improvement that has been noticed in his acclimatisation to the team and his greater comfort within all the processes that Leipzig carry out with the ball. With greater freedom to associate with his teammates, Dani Olmo has been approaching the level that is expected of him, as a good Spanish playmaker, with a first class technical quality and decision making. Olmo loses less than half as many balls as last season, increasing his participation in the build-up and his aggressiveness in the key pass and dribbling, a growth that has been consolidated in the Spanish national team, where he seems increasingly important in Luis Enrique’s plans.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Dani-Olmo-BW-english-904x1024.png

However, this growth as a playmaker for RB Leipzig has been somewhat incomplete in terms of his goalscoring, in which he has only scored three goals so far this season, in a context of a shortage of goals in a squad in which their top scorer has six goals. It is an area that his coach pointed out a couple of months ago. “Olmo can still work on his goal threat. Sometimes he holds the ball up too much. Everyone knows he’s very good, but he doesn’t have to prove it all the time. Simplicity is often genius.”

We are Driblab, a consultancy specialized in the statistical analysis of players and teams; our work is focused on advising and minimizing risk in professional football decision-making in areas related to talent detection and footballer evaluations. Our database has more than 180,000 players from more than 180 competitions, covering information from all over the world. Here you can learn more about how we work and what we offer.

Autor: Alejandro Arroyo
For Player Analysis we also recommend you:

‘Expected Passing %’: between accuracy and difficulty

How complicated is the pass I just saw on television? It is a question as simple as it is complex. With your powers of analysis and perception you may conclude that it is easy or difficult, or you may put an adverb in front of it to add some degree of difficulty or...

‘driblabPRO Scout’: under-23 left-footed centre-backs with a market value of less than 7M

We use all our filters to find left-footed U-23 centre-backs with good ball handling and aerial skills, with a market value of less than 7 million.

Belgium and Netherlands U21 fullbacks ready for a bigger challenge

We are looking for full-backs in Belgium and the Netherlands who meet the defensive requirements that would allow them to make the jump to a big league.

‘Through balls’: Messi’s latest impossible statistical peak

Leo Messi has no rival in this aspect of the game where he has always been the best. We compare him with other great players.

A goalkeeper today: visualizing his passing ability

We visualize which goalkeepers make more passes in different situations through different goalkeeper-specific metrics.

How the coveted Iván Fresneda plays

We analyse one of Europe’s most promising full-backs. We look at where he stands out and what makes him so sought after.

Counterpressing LaLiga 22/23: Agressive Actions & Quick Recoveries

Counterpressing measured through two specific metrics developed by Driblab at the request of our customers: aggressive actions and quick recoveries.

Darwin Nuñez, beyond a matter of time

The problems in Darwin Nuñez’s definition contain some nuances that the data show in this article.

The seven players who are dominating the World Cup

Ahead of the World Cup quarter-finals, we highlight seven players who are dominating this edition by one metric.

Qatar 2022: Potential signings for Serie A

We list ten players present at Qatar 2022 who could be very interesting options for Serie A teams.

Driblab

Información corporativa

Somos una empresa con sede en Madrid fundada en 2017 por Salvador Carmona y Cristian Coré Ramiro. Desde nuestros inicios nuestro trabajo se ha centrado en el análisis estadístico de datos para ayudar a los clubes en la planificación deportiva. Somos una consultora big data que ofrece servicios personalizados para cada cliente y defiende un modelo de gestión mixto y una comunicación constante para acompañar el día a día de las instituciones. Nuestro punto fuerte es la más amplia cobertura disponible en número de torneos profesionales y juveniles. Para más detalles, póngase en contacto con nosotros.

Colaboramos con:

           

Hemos aparecido en: