The two Portuguese singled out as potential replacements for Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi's desire to leave Barcelona is news many are still recovering from, but should the Argentine star get his way, the Spanish giants must be ready to find a replacement.
And a recent study has compiled the top players that are currently playing in one of the top 6 European leagues (English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, French Ligue 1 or Portuguese Primeira Liga) or one of the Eredivisie, Brazilian Serie A and the Argentine top flight to determine who are the players best suited to serving a similar role to Messi and are therefore potential candidates to replace the Barcelona legend.
Ten players in particular were selected by Spanish outlet Marca that most closely align to that of Lionel Messi, based on various calculable parameters such as passes from deep, expected assists, vertical passes, shots on target and dribble success, among many others, and two of the players proved to be Portuguese.
Indeed, in what could be a surprise to some, Benfica's 30-year old Pizzi was singled out as one of the players that most closely aligned to the game of Messi, and was suggested as perhaps the 5th best possible replacement to the Argentine of them all.
Pizzi's game style was given a closeness ranking of 4.05 (the lower, the better) while his spatial index was 56%. The right winger was incredibly influential at Benfica last season, scoring 30 goals and assisting 19 in 51 appearances across all competitions. They were remarkable statistics for the versatile 30-year old who finished as both the Primeira Liga top assister and joint top scorer.
Such a remarkable comparison to Lionel Messi could well make Pizzi even more valuable and desirable in the transfer market - and Benfica are willing to listen to offers upwards of £20million for his services.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the other Portuguese that made the top 10 on the list was Bruno Fernandes, the new Manchester United midfielder occupying that same attacking role just behind the striker and proving incredibly influential in terms of goal productivity and influence on the game. He was only 8th on the list overall though, behind Pizzi, with a closeness of 4.46, but a higher spatial index of 77%.
Fernandes had a season to remember at both Sporting and Manchester United; across the two clubs, scoring 27 and assisting 22 across 50 matches - virtually a goal contribution every game.
You can see the full breakdown of all the calculations and where each player is similar - and different - to Messi via this link to Marca’s article.
