Neve Herron and Lucia Kendall profiles

The Women's Championship has now been back for three weeks as of writing. Here are two of the many players that have stood out to me so far in the early weeks of the season.

Neve Herron 

Neve Herron (21) joined Birmingham in 2022 from hometown club Sunderland and has been played as a left-sided CB this season. In the 23/24 season she was voted as Birmingham's young player and player's player of the season.

Defensively, Herron is very proactive in pushing out of the defensive line to intercept passes into the player she's marking. She's also got solid positional sense, which sees her track across horizontally when Birmingham are defending transitions. She's made some really important blocks already this season such as this one against Bristol City . Aerially, Herron is pretty solid although I wouldn't necessarily call it a strength of hers as her positioning helps when dealing with off-target passes to head the ball on, and she has got good timing, but her standing leap isn't especially noteworthy. 

She possess a real comfort on the ball and is often the first pass that goalkeeper, Lucy Thomas, looks for when building up from the back. She's very capable of carrying the ball out from the back and uses her very proficient, non-dominant, left foot where necessary, which is a big plus for helping her avoid opposition players pressing her.

One of her best/most used actions is when she carries the ball near the left touchline to play the ball down the line for Tegan McGowan (or another forward running down the left channel) to run onto while catching out the opposition's defence, which has seen her complete 4.0 accurate long balls per 90 at a completion percentage of 40%, meaning that there's still definitely room for growth in this area. 

Herron has also previously played as a central midfielder when she was at Sunderland and it really shows by her confidence on the ball. I think being a left-sided CB is a good fit for her right now in her career. 

Lucia Kendall

Lucia Kendall (20) came through Southampton's academy and has been a regular starter since 2022. The young midfielder has also captained the side on multiple occasions and has also appeared twice for England's u-23 squad. 

Typically playing as a number 8 in a double pivot, Kendall has a keen sense for recovering loose balls in midfield by moving into the passing lanes in front of her marker. This keen defensive sense has seen her put up 7.0 interceptions and 12.7 ball recoveries per 90 in the first 3 games of the season. 

Playing alongside former Leicester City player, Aimee Palmer, in Southampton's midfield this season, the 20 year-old's role in the midfield is to push higher up the pitch than her midfield partner in build-up. She's got a very keen sense for moving into space off the ball to create better angles for the ball carrier, and is technically secure enough to play the ball of with one touch to either bounce it to a third player or complete the 1-2 and carry on her run into another space. When she is the ball carrier she can quickly switch direction and which foot she's using to protect the ball. She possess decent strength to hold off opponents and will play with her back to goal in deep build-up.

While her final third presence hasn't been too threatening this season, I wanted to highlight this sequence against Blackburn. In this clip she's able to play a big part in Southampton getting the ball into a dangerous position out wide with a perfectly weighted through ball on her weaker left foot to Aston Villa loanee, Freya Gregory. Even in the first few seconds you can see how aware she is of her surroundings by her scanning five times before receiving the ball for the second time. 

Kendall's off-ball movement, ball progression and defensive nous could probably see her do a good job of being a lone number 6 if a team ever needed her to play that role. I can definitely see Kendall ending up in the WSL or another top league in the not too distant future.

The Hellas Verona project

As a relative Serie A newbie (I started in 2022/23), Hellas Verona didn't initially interest me that much as they dont carry the same flashy name appeal that either of the Milanese clubs or Juventus carry.  That said, since the turn of the calendar year, I've actually found the club's project to be quite interesting, as they're very willing to flip players after a short stint with the club.  Over the past decade or so they have also played a part in the development of plenty of top level players such as Jorginho, Destiny Udogie, Sofyan Amrabat and Mattia Zaccagni.

The main player that inspired me to write this is Isak Hien (25).  In August 2022 Verona signed Hien from Sweden's Djurgårdens IF for a reported €4m and just 18 months later he was signed by Atalanta for roughly €8m.  For Atalanta, Hien has looked like a truly top level CB, whose tenacity in aerial and ground duels has helped him bed in perfectly into the centre of Gianpiero Gasperini's 3 man defence.

Hien was sold in the same window as Belgian winger, Cyril Ngonge (24), who had a very encouraging start to the 23/24 campaign for Hellas scoring 6 goals and getting 2 assists in the first half of the season.  This impressive start saw Napoli pay €18m to secure the creative Belgian wide man, although he has struggled to make the same sort of impact for Napoli as he's mostly featured off the bench.  Ngonge was also brought in during the 22/23 season for a mere €500k from FC Groningen, which represents excellent business and is probably the ideal scenario for the club to buy the player cheaply in their early to mid 20's to then flip them to a richer club for a profit in quick fashion.

The other two players that left in 2024 that I wanted to talk about are, Juan Cabal (23) and Tijjani Noslin (25). The Colombian Cabal made quite a high profile move to Juventus for €13m before the start of the 24/25 season despite also being linked to fierce rivals Inter.  Cabal was signed in August 2022 for €3m from Colombian side Atletico Nacional.  He's already become a fixture of new coach Thiago Motta's back 4 as the starting LB.  Noslin made the move to Lazio off the back of scoring 5 times and assisting a further 4 goals in just 17 Serie A games for the Gialloblu.  The Belgian only arrived in Verona in January of 2024 after moving from Dutch side Fortuna Sittard for €3m which meant that when he moved to the Roman giants of Lazio for €8m, Verona made a very quick €5m profit.

In terms of players currently in the squad, Jackson Tchatchoua (22) is arguably the most hyped prospect already reportedly attracting interest from Napoli.  The Cameroonian wing-back/full-back has shown great dribbling qualities whether that's cutting inside from the wing to attack the box or going down the line.  He's also a very competent 1v1 defender winning 3.2 tackles and interceptions per 90 in the 23/24 season.  Tchatchoua was signed permanently in 2024 after initially being on loan from RC Sporting Charleroi in Belgium for what looks to be a bargain €3m. 

Another young prospect in the squad is central-midfielder, Reda Belahyane (20), who arrived from OGC Nice in January 2024 for €500k.  While initially he found game time hard to come by in his first season, he has been given his opportunity by coach, Paolo Zanetti, in the first two games of the Serie A season after an injury to Suat Serdar against Napoli on the opening day.  Early signs are that the young Frenchman has very good ball retention qualities and uses his body very well to win fouls in duels.  He gives off a calm air on the ball and is very willing to drop in deep when in possession to help Verona build in the first phase. 

Verona also saw 3 players (that are still with the club) get minutes at Euro 2024 in Slovakian, Ondrej Duda (29) and Tomas Suslov (22), as well as the Polish defender, Pawel Dawidowicz (29).  

Veteran midfielder Duda has Premier League experience with Norwich City and also had two stints in the German Bundesliga with Hertha Berlin and FC Köln.  Duda's role with Verona is as a more creative number 8 despite how he use to be used as more of an attacking midfield outlet earlier in his career. Duda arrived for €3m from Köln.

His Slovakian international teammate Suslov has inherited the right sided number 10/wing slot vacated by the previously mentioned Cyril Ngonge, who has also has a very promising left foot and an eye for a cutting pass.  Suslov posted an impressive 51% take on success rate last season while attempting just over 3 take ons per 90.  Suslov was signed for €1m from Groningen in January 2024 and has already attracted interest from AS Roma and city rivals S.S Lazio.

Dawidowicz has been operating as the right-sided CB for Zanetti's 3 man back line and cuts a tall figure at 6'2.  Interestingly, the Pole is comfortable moving the ball on with the either foot in the buildup and at first glance it's difficult to tell which is his favoured foot. In the 23/24 season he put up an impressive 2.8 successful 2.8 aerial duels per 90 at a success rate of 69% which was good enough to rank him in the 89th percentile among CB's in Europe's top 5 leagues.  Dawidowicz was signed permanently for €3m from Benfica in 2019.

One other player that's worth mentioning is 20 year-old CB academy graduate, Diego Coppola.  The young Italian defender has lined up as the middle CB in the back 3 in the opening two games, stands at 6'3 and has made 4 appearances for Italy's U-21 side as of writing.  Coppola was actually in the 99th percentile of aerials won per 90 with 4.5 among CB's and is seen as one of Italy's next up and coming defenders.

Overall, Hellas is a really intriguing club with how they operate in terms of picking up young players and giving them the platform to develop and then sell them on to other clubs for efficient profit. 

Kiera Skeels overview.

Kiera Skeels is a very bright CB prospect at 22 years-old playing for Charlton in the Women's Championship.  She recently signed a 1-year contract extension with Charlton to keep her for a 4th season with the Addicks.  Skeels actually made 10 appearances for then WSL side Bristol City in 2021 on loan from Reading, where she came through the academy.

Player profile

Pros:

. Physicality/aggressive defending.

. Confident on the ball w/ both feet.

. Leadership.

Area for improvement:

. Acceleration.

Skeels is a very front-footed/proactive defender, recovering the ball 13 times a game, who will push out of the defensive line to contest aerial balls, and follow her marker when they drop deep.  This allows Charlton to win the ball back closer to the opposing goal, as they look to play down the wings at pace.  A confident header of the ball, Skeels is useful at dealing with long balls and defending set-pieces, winning 2.5 aerials per 90.  The 22 year-old is strong against opponents backing into her, doesn't get rolled easily and is capable of defending wide areas as she's got very good positional sense. 

Skeels passing stats don't initially jump off the page at only 82% overall accuracy and 47% long ball accuracy, but her technique is generally solid.  Her zipped short passes on the ground stand out along with her long, curled balls to the wings to help Charlton build-up quickly.  While her passing and carrying on her left foot doesn't look like 2nd nature to her, she is still very confident on her weaker left foot and doesn't shy away from playing the ball long on her left.  In fact, the angles opened up to her by being so confident on her left, makes me think that she'd be very suited to playing as a central CB in a back 3 - or a back 4 with an inverted full-back - at a higher level. 

The fact that Charlton have entrusted Skeels as a co-captain as a 22 year-old shows just how highly thought of she is as one of the youngest captains in the Women's Championship.  While not being one of the loudest voices on the pitch, it's noticeable that Skeels is in near constant conversation to organise her defence in and out of possession, whether that's instructing her teammates where she's looking to play the ball, or communicating with her full-back against a winger. 

The main thing that I think may hinder Skeels' progression is that because she's such a proactive defender in leaving the defensive line to defend high up the pitch, it does allow space in behind for her defensive teammates to cover for her lack of recovery speed.  She's not necessarily slow as her top speed is ok, but her acceleration could improve to really help in defensive transitions. 

In summary, Kiera Skeels looks a very solid defender who probably wouldn't look out of place in a mid-level WSL team in the future. Having another season in the Championship this year should really help her develop even more and hopefully she'll continue to get called up to England's U-23 squad. 

Ella Morris: How will she fit in at Spurs?

Ella Morris arrives at Spurs with over 100 appearances for Southampton after making the jump from their youth teams to the senior team in 2019.  The 21 year-old defender certainly fits head coach, Robert Vilahamn's, idea of being a quick, attacking player, who is confident on the ball. 

Pros:

. Plenty of senior experience (100+ games already).

. Pace (useful offensively and defensively)

. Can get past her opponent 1v1.

Looks comfortable when in central positions (really impressive ball retention)

. Decent defensive instincts.

Cons:

. Final ball still needs some work and is a spotty crosser.

. Game time might initially be difficult to come by.

Morris is an explosive runner and eats up ground on and off the ball, which is stylistically perfect for a full-back/wing-backs in the modern game.  When Southampton would turn the ball over, Morris has shown that she can quickly close down the space in behind.  Using her long strides, she can either close off the space, or nick the ball off of the opposition player. Her pace also allows her to constantly run up and down the right flank for the full 90 minutes.  This is demonstrated by her heatmap from last season. 

Sometimes, being a quick sprinter can mean that a players' footwork suffers as a result of their brain's not being able to work at the same speed as their feet.  Generally speaking, she's quite tidy on the ball when facing up her opposing full-back or carrying the ball at full speed, which adds to her threat down the right flank. 

Ella's first touch is usually quite reliable, allowing her to either push the ball out in front to sprint forward into space, or keep the ball close to pass the ball off to a teammate.  Her ability to cleanly receive the ball, coupled with her comfort in central areas, mean that she's not always hugging the touchline and allows her to create a midfield overload to help in possession.

The young full-back is already looking like a decent defensive player, as she's a good tackler who does tend to stay on her feet.  Her positioning sense allows her to block crosses and intercept balls down the line at a pretty decent frequency.

Morris did accumulate 3 goals and 4 assists last season in the women's championship, but I'd say that her crossing is something that will be worked on this season.  Her most dangerous balls in tend to be either cut-backs from near the byline on the right side of the box or low-driven crosses from just outside the box.  I'd like to see her improve the power in her whipped crosses as that would create better chances for her teammates in the box.

Initially game time might be a struggle for Morris to come by as she's going to be competing against Charli Grant and Ash Neville at the RB slot and Amanda Nildén at LB(the aforementioned Grant and Neville also deputise on the left).  She has also played as a RM in a midfield 4 so there's also potential for her to backup Celin Bizet and Jess Naz on the RW. 

Given that she's quite highly regarded from her time at Southampton, being an England u-23 international and that all 3 full-back options missed games last season with injuries, I think she may spend this season training with the first team to get used to the WSL environment. I don't think I'd mind if she was loaned out to a WSL team that would be able to give her starting minutes to help her development but I don't really anticipate that happening. 

Overall, she's a very exciting signing that has potential to eventually knock on the door of England's senior squad. 

3 players that have stood out for me: Euro 2024

As a quick disclaimer. Three games is obviously not enough to properly judge a player's ability. That said these players caught my eye and I've followed 2 of the 3 during the regular club season, and the 3rd has started getting links to big European leagues.

Georgiy Sudakov (21): Ukraine

Georgiy Sudakov is someone who I didn't really know about before the tournament, but seeing as Ukraine have been an interesting watch so far, I thought I'd pay more attention to him during their games. So far, Sudakov has lined up as Ukraine's most advanced 8, which has seen him push up to make a front 2 out of possession.

He's shown a tendency to drop very deep to help Ukraine build up the play which has limited his threat nearer goal so far. But he's shown that he's very press resistant, being able to jink away from opposition players with fakes and quick footwork. His long passing has been a help, by being able to switch the ball out to the flanks when Ukraine win the ball back, Sudakov allows the team to quickly move up the pitch. The young midfielder already has a good sense of where spaces will open up and has shown his intelligence to get into those pockets of space in front of the opposition defence and either turn, or play the ball to a teammate.

He's not registered a goal or assist in this Euros, but he played a big part in Shaparenko's equalising goal against Slovakia. 

Ukraine countered quickly from a Slovakian turnover, which saw Sudakov follow the ball as it went to the left side of the final 3rd. 

He waited patiently on the outside of the box to receive the ball from Dovbyk after initially taking a few steps back. When he got the ball, he paused for a second to allow Zinchenko to overlap on the left.

Then, without looking, he played a nicely weighted pass for Zinchenko to cut the ball back to Shaparenko to finish off an impressive counter.

Nicolas Seiwald (23): Austria

Nicolas Seiwald made the move that many other RB Salzburg players have in recent years by moving to sister club RB Leipzig in the summer of 2023. Seiwald hasn't cemented himself as a starter for his club yet as he's behind Xaver Schlager, Kevin Kampl and Amadou Haidara in the double pivot pecking order, but he's currently partnering Florian Grillitsch as Austria's double pivot in this Euros. 

For Ralf Rangnick's Austria, Seiwald has mostly been the sitting midfielder in the double pivot, although because he's such an intense presser, he has followed his man further up the pitch to close down his passing options. Seiwald has very good defensive sense which has seen him make 17 tackles and interceptions across the first 3 games. In transition he also covers at RB, or steps inbetween the CB's when Austria are being countered to make sure there's 4 players in the defensive line or to cover space for potential attacking runners. 

The 5'10 midfielder is quite stocky, but this doesn't hamper his ability on the ball as he can comfortably shift the ball onto the other foot when needed. As with the other two mentioned he's very comfortable using both feet, and his 1 and 2 touch passing is very impressive. His passes have mostly been very safe, with Grillitsch/Laimer being more likely to progress with a long ball or carry the ball. Although he has shown a willingness to play passes forwards between the attacking and midfield lines.

Stanislav Lobotka (29): Slovakia

Stanislav Lobotka has been a big name #6 since his Celta Vigo days before his move to Napoli in 2019. The Slovakian has a small and slight frame which makes him very nippy when carrying the ball out of deep areas, although he's also able to use his positioning sense to nip in front of opposition players to intercept the ball and stop counters. 

Starting as the deepest lying midfielder in Slovakia's 433 in possession, Lobotka is the player that most of the play goes through when they're progressing the ball up the pitch. Out of possession he plays behind the midfield 4 in a 4141 when they press teams high up the pitch, which has seen him clean up loose balls high up the pitch. This allows Slovakia to immediately attack again when opposing defences are struggling to play out from the back.

At the most basic level, Lobotka excels in build-up as he constantly picks up space to allow for the back 4 to play the ball straight to him in space or find a 3rd man pass in midfield or out wide, to give Lobotka space in front of him or space to run into out wide. He's incredibly comfortable on the ball and has no problems passing on his left foot.

Brief summaries on players I've not dedicated a full post to.

These are some short profiles on men's and women's players I haven't done a post on but I still wanted to talk about. This is written from a Spurs related lens.

Male players:

Hiroki Ito:

Ito is a player I've been watching since last season as he's a left-sided defender who can play in a back 3 or 4 as a wide CB or LB. Ito is defensively sound, quick and physically strong. As with pretty much everyone in the Stuttgart squad he's improved under Sebastian Hoeneß, whose style requires composure in possession which is something he has improved (even if it still needs some work). I'd say that LB is his best position for the future as he's fast enough and strong enough to compete against pacy wingers, while he's also given some licence to come inside to form a back 3 when necessary and also make underlapping runs when further up the pitch.

Jhon Lucumí:

Thiago Motta has turned Bologna into one of the best defensive sides in Italy and despite defensive teammate, Ricardo Calafiori, being coveted by the European elites, John Lucumí is also quietly putting in accomplished defensive performances. Defensively composed, the 26 year-old doesn't put up crazy tackling numbers but is very good 1v1 and he doesn't always go to ground. The left-footer is a willing carrier of the ball who has played in both CB slots as well as filling in at LB when needed as well. Comfortable stepping into midfield to either receive the ball in build-up or bring it up himself, the Colombian is a thoroughly modern CB who wouldn't look out of place in a lot of big European teams and would probably be my ideal choice for Spurs this summer if Bologna are able to replace him and Calafiori.

Radu Dragusin:

After joining Spurs in January, Dragusin initially found it difficult to get starting minutes despite enjoying a really good half-season at Genoa. In the limited minutes he has since played for Spurs you can really see that he slots in perfectly into this back line. Strong, quick and aerially dominant, the Romanian is a really intriguing young player who's also developing his passing range at Spurs. I'd like to see how he'd play in the RCB role for Spurs in the Europa League next season as he's exclusively played LCB so far which has limited his passing angles due to his right-sided bias. 

Éderson da Silva:

Safe to say that Éderson made a pretty big impression in the Europa League final against Leverkusen. The 24 year-old Brazilian is nominally a box-to-box number 8 who has a monstrous engine, is aggressive defensively and can pop up with goals and assists by crashing the box or with his decent passing range. I don't think he's polished enough on the ball to be a lone #6 option, but he'd be a really nice option for a lot of teams as a #8.

Kaoru Mitoma:

It's difficult to know how much of an impact Kaoru Mitoma's season-ending back injury will have on his future, but in the last season and a half he's become one of the most coveted left-sided wingers in world football. It's a bit of a meme at this point, but he did write a university thesis on dribbling and frankly it's easy to see why. The ball sticks to the Brighton winger's feet allowing him to cut inside or go down the line with equal levels of ease. Under De Zerbi,  he was tasked with staying very wide to create space for midfielders to bait opposition players in before springing the ball out wide to take on his man 1v1 which he's very confident in doing. 

Albert Gudmundsson:

The Iceland international is a really nippy, adept dribbler, despite not being rapid. Gudmundsson is used as a second striker/#10 for Genoa which allows him to drift in and out of spaces left between opposing defensive and midfield lines to link play centrally or out on the left as Genoa's main creative hub. He's naturally right-footed but does have good shooting and crossing technique on his left foot. 

Female players:

Esme Morgan:

Esme Morgan can play all along the defensive line, although she's probably primarily a full-back. Capable of inverting into the midfield to partner Yui Hasegawa from full-back, she's not the most polished player on the ball, but she's safe enough when on the ball and does have a decent passing range. Her recovery pace does also mean that she'd fit into a high defensive line, even when she's the deepest defender in the defensive line. 

Paula Tomás:

Primarily used as a left back for Levante, Tomás is heavily right-footed and is quite a good crosser cutting in from the left flank to play in-swinging crosses. She does tend to be the furthest defender up the pitch as Levante tend to have quite a slanted back line, allowing her to be almost like an auxiliary LW. Her left foot crossing does need to improve, although she does get into good areas to cut the ball into the centre of the box to create big chances.

Charlotte Grant: 

Arriving mid-season from Vittsjö in Sweden upon the expiry of her contract, the Australian looks an absolute livewire at full-back for Spurs. Rapid and capable of playing either full-back role, Grant is a brilliant player in transition for Spurs, making overlapping runs to create crossing angles and cut-backs. Because of her willingness to bomb forward, it does sometimes leave Spurs open at the back to be countered, but she's fast enough to recover and track back. Not guaranteed to be a starter next season, Grant will still get plenty of minutes and has a real chance to become one of the best full-backs in the WSL.

Julia Grosso:

The Canadian midfielder is one of the most in demand #8's in world football after her contract expired with Juventus this summer. The 23 year-old wouldn't look out of place in any top midfield in the world, as she's incredibly technically gifted. Capable of dribbling out of tight spaces and moving the ball on under pressure, Grosso is one of the most press-resistant midfielders in the world.  She looks equally comfortable dropping into the #6 or operating near the box as she's scored 6 league goals this season. 

Olga Ahtinen:

The Finnish midfielder was one of Robert Vilahamn's first signings for Spurs and slotted in to the midfield 2 brilliantly. Ahtinen started as the more advanced pivot next to Eveliina Summanen at the start of the season which saw her as her as the more box to box midfielder. She's a capable long passer on either foot (see assist against Sheffield United in the FA Cup 4th round) to quickly play the ball out to the wing or play the ball in behind centrally. I'd love to see her add to her goal and assist tally next season, as 1 goal and 3 assists in the league and FA Cup is a decent start, but doesn't really do her attacking capabilities justice.

Matilda Vinberg:

Another mid-season arrival from Sweden, this time from Hammarby, 21 year-old Vinberg hasn't quite nailed down the starting LW spot for Spurs yet, but a full debut goal against Leicester was the perfect start. She's quickly shown off that she might just be the best crosser at the club, which gives Spurs extra creativity down the left flank, which wasn't really there before (Grace Clinton started the season there but mostly looked to come inside). The Swede offers Spurs options inside and out on the left as she's a very capable dribbler, coupled with nice, quick link up play. Despite being such a good crosser, her shot selection does need some refinement as she can be a bit trigger happy taking less than advantegous efforts.

Kristjan Asllani: A regista for the future

Inter currently have one of the best registas in the world in Hakan Calhanoglu after converting him from a more advanced midfield role last season when Marcelo Brozovic was nearing the end of his Inter tenure. His 22 year-old backup, Kristjan Asllani, is lesser known to the wider football world but he is looking like an intriguing regista prospect. The Albanian international started his Serie A career coming through Empoli's academy which he joined at the age of 10. Empoli are famed for the players they've developed and sold in recent years including Ismael Bennacer, Guglielmo Vicario, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Fabiano Parisi. 

Asllani excels in the first phase buildup where he can drop into the wide CB slots to allow Pavard and Bastoni to push higher and wider to create more passing angles to play the ball back inside, as he's also a very useful 3rd man passer. Perhaps it was more noticeable during his Empoli career, but he can be very vocal when organising his midfield line in and out of possession to create and close angles. Asllani's progressive passing and carrying numbers don't stand out only being in the 38th and 73rd percentiles (fbref) but he has good ball-retention when in the defensive half through his two-footedness and ability to use ball fakes to quickly evade his opponent.

It's very noticeable that he's also incredibly confident passing and receiving the ball on his "weaker" left foot which opens up many more passing options when he's being pressed. When he's further up the pitch, he's capable of playing his teammates through with good crossing technique (on both feet) from half-space positions or corners (these are not especially frequent but still a string to his bow). He's able to adjust his body position, by opening his body out to even switch his passing foot, so quickly that it allows him to disguise his passes to break defensive lines open, allowing his teammates to be in on goal. 

He does mostly come off the bench for Inter, for half an hour at most, although he has started 7 games at club level this season. His in-possession numbers are indicative that he could make a good level #6 as a starter for Inter or elsewhere with 85 touches and 65 passes per 90 being among the 93rd and 94th percentile respectively. 

He's a bit of a non-factor defensively at this stage of his career, which isn't ideal as a #6, and he does get caught too high up the pitch when Inter lose possession, leading to gaps in midfield. This is also shown by him being in the lowest percentiles for tackles and interceptions (fbref, as of May 9th 2024). When you have the energetic combination presence of Nicolo Barella, Henrikh Mkhitaryan or Davide Fratessi as midfield partners, and a very solid back 5 presence behind him, his defensive deficiencies are covered a fair bit but it's certainly something that he can look to improve upon. 

At 5'10 and with a fairly slim frame, he's not the strongest presence physically so protecting passing lanes and improving defensive timing will be good ways for him to improve. He has made a fair few errors leading to goals in recent seasons due to poor concentration or execution when passing the ball upfield or simply not being aware enough of players around him. Although these errors can also be cut down, as he generally is a very aware player and will scan behind him most times before receiving the ball to give himself a clear picture of the space behind him. 

Personally, I'm pretty high on him to keep improving and think there's already the foundations there of a very talented player. Being Calhanoglu's understudy is a pretty good role to have for Asllani at this age but I'd be curious to see if he was to be sold to a club where he'd get starting minutes. At 22 he's hopefully got a long career ahead of him and being at one of the biggest clubs in the world already shows just how highly he has been thought of.