Nicolo Zaniolo joins Aston Villa on loan: Decoding his stats
Aston Villa have signed Italy midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo on loan from Galatasaray. As per BBC, Villa will pay a £4.25m loan fee and there is a "conditional compulsory purchase option" in the deal. Zaniolo will look to resurrect his career in England as he was once considered Italy's next big thing. The Italian is Villa's fourth signing of this summer.
Why does this story matter?
Aston Villa need reinforcements as they started their Premier League season with a 5-1 defeat against Newcastle United. Zaniolo is a likely replacement for Emi Buendia who sustained a serious knee injury in training before the campaign started. Zaniolo was one of Italy's hottest prospects until injuries happened. He also fell out of favor with AS Roma manager Jose Mourinho and moved to Turkey.
A look at Zaniolo's career stats
Zaniolo started his carer at Fiorentina's youth team. He played 22 matches for Fiorentina's Under-17 team and scored seven goals. He then moved to Serbie B outfit Virtus Entella in 2016 and featured in seven matches. He moved to Roma in 2018 and played 128 matches while netting 24 goals. Zaniolo has made 12 appearances for Galatasaray and managed five goals.
A look at his stats for AS Roma
Zaniolo joined Roma in 2018 and was an instant hit with six goals in 36 appearances across different competitions. Against Porto in the Champions League, he became the youngest Italian to score twice in a single match in the competition. Zaniolo won the Serie A Young Player of the Year award in 2018-19. He scored 13 Serie A goals in 94 matches.
Breaking down Zaniolo's numbers in the 2022-23 Super Lig season
Zaniolo featured in 10 Super Lig matches for Galatasaray last season as he scored five goals while three chances. As per Opta, the youngster completed 73 passes out of 99 attempted as he clocked 73.74% passing accuracy. He registered 14 shots (excluding blocks), while 10 were on target. Zaniolo completed nine take-ons and won 26 ground duels. He won a solitary aerial duel.
A look at the trophies won by Zaniolo
Zaniolo was outstanding for Roma in the inaugural 2020-21 UEFA Europa Conference League. He scored a hat-trick against Bodo/Glimt in the quarter-finals before scoring the decisive goal in the final against Feyenoord in their 1-0 win to win the title. Zaniolo also won the 2022-23 Super Lig with Galatasaray. He has finished third with Italy in the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League.
13 appearances for Italy
Zaniolo got his first international call-up in September 2018 even before he made his Serie A debut. However, he made his Italy senior team debut in March 2019 in their 2-0 win against Finland. His first international strike came against Armenia in their 9-1 win.
