Could Nico Gonzalez finally fill Leicester’s Mahrez-shaped hole?

There is no doubting the pedigree of Leicester City target Nico Gonzalez. But for an injury picked up on the eve of the World Cup in Qatar, he would be holding a winner’s medal now.

And yet the 24-year-old Argentinian has been questioned by his own club this season, with manager Vicenzo Italiano and general manager Joe Barone claiming that Gonzalez was so determined to make it to Qatar that he wasn’t mentally fit to play for Fiorentina before the tournament.

It was a harsh assessment, though after joining Argentina’s preparations for the tournament Gonzalez aggravated a thigh injury which had already hampered his season and he was forced to drop out.

That questioning of his commitment to Fiorentina’s cause — after helping them reach Europe for the first time in six years with an impressive campaign in 2021-22 — could strengthen Leicester’s hand as they attempt to bring Gonzalez to King Power Stadium to take up the poisoned chalice that is the right-wing spot.

It is a role that many have taken on after Riyad Mahrez’s departure in 2018. Nearly all have failed. Reports in Italy suggest that Fiorentina have rejected Leicester’s initial bid of £30million ($36.5m), so it is by no means certain that Gonzalez will be at King Power Stadium come the end of the transfer window, but he is certainly the man Leicester believe can fill the Mahrez void.

Gonzalez’s injury record will be a concern, especially considering Leicester’s injury woes have been, quite frankly, woeful over the past 18 months.

This season he has missed 15 games for Fiorentina through injury and started just four games all season. But his return of five goals in 11 appearances, mostly from the substitutes bench and totalling just 407 minutes of action, demonstrates his importance to the Serie A club.

Fiorentina paid a club-record fee of €27million to Gonzalez’s first European club Stuttgart. The left-footed winger snubbed Brighton and Hove Albion in the process after they had also agreed a club-record fee with the Bundesliga side. If Leicester convince Fiorentina to sell their main asset, the deal will not be done cheaply.

His first season in Italy was injury-free, with a short absence because of COVID-19, and it was an impressive debut season as he made 39 appearances (30 starts), scored eight goals and provided nine assists. So it might be more useful to use the 2021-22 campaign to assess what Gonzalez could bring to Brendan Rodgers’ side.

The first thing that would have attracted Leicester’s recruitment staff, besides his goals and assists in a notoriously difficult league for strikers, is Gonzalez’s versatility. Fiorentina, by and large, play a 4-3-3 system similar to that favoured by Rodgers, and Gonzalez has played in all three forward positions.

He can play off the left where he can naturally go on the outside of defenders, but Rodgers will be particularly keen to use him off the right, where he can cut back infield, as Harvey Barnes does effectively off the left flank, or go on the outside, as he does against Napoli here:

What Gonzalez offers in this role, which is unlike most wingers, is an ability to attack the back post with his aerial prowess. At 5ft 11in (180cm), he is tall for a winger, and in terms of league goals, of the 17 he has scored in the last four seasons, three have been headers, though he was used more than 60 per cent of the time as a central striker in Germany.

An example of him scoring with a header for Fiorentina was in this match against FC Twente in the Europa Conference League last August. As the ball comes in, Gonzalez is up against three defenders, but he rises above two of them to plant his header past the keeper.

But it is his ability and willingness to carry the ball and attack defenders that is most impressive. To delve into his profile we can look at his smarterscout data, which assesses players’ individual attributes and ranks them against their peers to give them a rating — the higher the rating the better they are at that individual area of the game compared to similar players in their position.

Looking at last season, Gonzalez’s rating of 87 out of 99 for carries and dribbles shows just how often he looks to pick up the ball and run with it.

It is his preferred form of attack, as his progressive passing rating (19 out of 99) and link-up play volume (31 out of 99) demonstrate — he looks to carry when he receives possession. Here, against Lazio, his first thought when he receives the ball from Riccardo Saponara is to attack the full-back.

Not surprisingly, given his preference to attack defenders, his ball retention level is also low (39 out of 99) which means he loses possession often when he takes those risks, but when he is successful he is effective against deep-sitting defences, an area in which Leicester do struggle.

The measure of xG from shot creation shows how much a player’s actions contribute to creating scoring chances for their team, whether it be having a shot, creating a chance or making the last pass before a chance, and Gonzalez ranks above average at 63 out of 99 — but he is more of shot-taker, a player who looks to score himself.

The xG from ball progression figure shows how much a player’s actions increase the likelihood of his side scoring when in possession by getting the ball into dangerous areas up field — through balls, dangerous crosses, and driving runs into the attacking third. Gonzalez ranks quite low on this metric (36 out of 99), but his receptions in the box, which measures the number of times he receives the ball inside the box, is high (74 out of 99) and he frequently gets a shot away when given the chance (73 out of 99).

For a winger, he doesn’t shirk the less glamorous side of the game. His ball recoveries and interceptions (69 out of 99) shows how frequently he looks to pick up loose balls and block passes, and his defending intensity, which shows how often the player is the most relevant defender when his side are out of possession in terms of applying pressure, is very high at 81. Not surprisingly, the impact of his defending — the ability to stop the opposition progressing the ball forward — is also above average (62 out of 99), showing a player high in quantity and quality out of possession.

But overwhelmingly, he is excellent at aerial duels for a winger, with a score of 98. How valuable would that ability be for Leicester, considering their problematic set-piece scenarios?

So, an attacking player who loves to dribble rather than pass; who can score goals (he has scored with a third of his shots on target this season) more than create; who will roll up his sleeves and get stuck into the dirty work.

It is not difficult to see why Leicester are so keen on him.

With 21 international caps and three goals, he has become part of an Argentina squad that includes Lionel Messi and has just lifted the greatest prize in the game. If not for his thigh injury, he would have shared that moment.

There will be some concerns over his physical resilience and whether he can cope with the increased rigours of a Premier League season, especially as he also missed 24 games for club and country through injury and illness in his final Bundesliga campaign. Leicester could do without another high-earner in the treatment room.

However, the prospect of Gonzalez linking up with James Maddison, Barnes and Jamie Vardy, when they are all fit and firing, is a mouthwatering one for Leicester fans.

Leicester have been searching for a right winger for over four years to fill a void, without ever spending serious money to bring one in. They will have to do so with Gonzalez, but it could be worth it.

(Top photo: Gabriele Maltinti via Getty Images)