Aston Villa confirmed the signing of Matteo Ruggeri from Atlético Madrid on Monday in a deal worth up to a reported £22.65m.
The Italian left-back arrives to replace Lucas Digne, who departed for PSG last week. He will compete for playing time with the incumbent Ian Maatsen and like Digne, should offer a different kind of skill set to Villa’s defense from Maatsen’s marauding style.
The percentile ranks from last season among full-backs in Europe’s top five leagues paint a picture of how Ruggeri will theoretically replicate Digne’s role:
Analysing the similarities and differences between the two begins with defining what Digne brought to the team. His primary responsibilities were to help Villa progress up the pitch through passing, to link play in the final third and create chances via crosses.
Digne’s strength in crossing and creating chances is aligned with Ruggeri’s, which is likely in part what drew Emery to him.
Digne’s 3.05 crosses per 90 minutes last season, and 26.9% accuracy on those crosses ranked in the 91st and 73rd percentile respectively, and were actually bettered by Ruggeri’s 3.84 crosses per game with 31.2% accuracy.
Ruggeri registered six assists in all competitions last year compared to seven for Digne, both strong outputs for a full-back.
Both players were above average in progression rate, although Digne’s 23.2% rate is quite a lot higher than Ruggeri’s 18.4%. They were also both active near the opposition goal, with Digne ranking in the 85th percentile for passes played in the final third and Ruggeri landing in the 87th percentile.
Digne is more well-rounded in terms of impact higher up the pitch, ranking in the 68th percentile in the ‘final third completeness’ metric, which combines link-up play, shooting, ball-winning and carrying. Ruggeri lagged behind in the 44th percentile, mostly due to a lack of shooting.
In terms of defending, they both score high for defensive actions out on the flanks compared to other full-backs, but have not had much involvement in the penalty area or even in the channels. They are usually positioned very wide and do most of their work closer to the touchline.
While there are areas Digne is more refined than Ruggeri, there are also traits the 24-year-old may offer that his predecessor could not.
The most obvious one is aerial ability. At 6’2” Ruggeri is four inches taller than Digne, and indeed Maatsen. He won 69% of his aerial duels from open play last season, with Digne only winning half.
Ruggeri also projects to have more upside as a ball-carrier than Digne.
Driving forward with the ball was really not part of Digne’s game, and while it is not a speciality for Ruggeri, he is capable, which should give him more ability to take advantage of space opening up in front of him or even beat an opponent on occasion to open up the pitch.
Overall, Ruggeri has a very comparable statistical profile to Digne, making his signing a potentially smart one as Villa look to replicate the impact the Frenchman had in the team.
He may even be able to provide an upgrade on Digne in some areas, although his ability to adapt to the Premier League and Emery’s setup will of course be paramount.
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