Who is Armand Laurienté and what will he bring to Sunderland - #onthewhistle - video Dailymotion

Sunderland Echo

Phil Smith discusses Sunderland's move for Sassuolo forward Armand Laurienté and what he will bring to the club if and when a deal is concluded

Transcript

00:00afternoon everyone welcome to a brief transfer edition of On The Whistle because we have yet

00:07another potentially very exciting Sunderland signing to talk about now really pleased to say

00:12I'll be out in Portugal this weekend covering both games against Sevilla and Sporting Lisbon

00:16there'll be absolutely stacks of coverage on the Sunderland Echo website on my Twitter and blue sky

00:21and of course hopefully some On The Whistles here on YouTube as well so keep your eyes

00:25keep your eyes out for them but we're going to talk a little bit today about hopefully Sunderland's

00:30seventh summer signing now obviously as you know I've tried to stick as much as I can in these

00:34transfer videos to deals that are pretty advanced and look like they're definitely hopefully going

00:38to happen and Sassuolo's Armand Lorienti now very much in that category my understanding is that

00:45the two clubs have now agreed a fee in the region of 17 and a half million for Lorienti now he's a

00:51name you've probably heard because he's been linked with Sunderland for a number of weeks

00:54I think this is really exciting Sunderland getting a key attacking target over the line

00:58players keen on the move and so hopefully it's something that we'll go through in the next few

01:03days obviously as we always say football things can change very very quickly and it's not done

01:07until it's done but I think we are at a point where we can talk a little bit about this and most

01:11importantly what will he bring to the squad so who is Lorienti he's a 26 year old forward with a lot

01:18of top level experience in Europe so a few seasons at Lorienti where he kind of broke through

01:26made his name in senior football and then three seasons at Sassuolo in Italy so he didn't play for

01:35Le Brice at Lorienti but there is definitely a connection there because Le Brice was the academy

01:39boss at the time when Lorienti was in the first team so fair to assume that he's a player that Le Brice

01:45knows really well knows his strengths knows his game knows his personality and although Florent

01:49Gisolfi had also left Lorient by the by the time Lorienti was there he was of course working at

01:54Lons the spot and director so I think it's fair to assume Sunderland's new director of football

01:58knows Lorienti very well knows his game knows what he can bring to the team

02:02um so yeah Lorienti has played the vast majority of his football you know as I say in in the top

02:07divisions in Europe he brings well over 100 sort of appearances in in the top tier to his name

02:12now Sassuolo did play in Serie B last season because they were relegated the season before

02:17um Lorienti stayed he wanted to put that right he wanted to sort of put right to the wrongs of that

02:22relegation and he had by far his most spectacular season in terms of output and scored 18 goals which

02:29was the the second most in the entire division also chipped in with five assists as well which was

02:34right up there in terms of making one of the most productive players in the entire division so

02:39I think they um spent a lot of time this afternoon researching Lorienti watching his clips trying to

02:45learn a little bit about him and where he might fit into the picture at Sunderland I think what's

02:50very very clear about him first and foremost is as we're saying with pretty much every forward that

02:54we're talking about um at Sunderland this year he has a lot of pace covers a huge amount of ground

02:59in in a short amount of time really going to be a threat in the transition um and I think it's obvious

03:06that some of the trying to recruit players with that athleticism with that speed as they try to

03:11adapt to the Premier League and the athleticism of that level and also realistically the fact that

03:15they are going to be trying to do a lot of their attacking on the on the break and in transition

03:19so he's a very versatile player he's played in all forward positions at some stage across his career

03:25for basically every club um but for sure he's played the bulk of his football certainly at Sassoulo

03:30but also to be honest at Lorient as well off the left um watching his clips you know there are clear

03:36there are definite similarities with the wingers that Sunderland have in terms of Remain Mundell but

03:39I think there is probably a touch of the Wilson Isidore about him in terms of he plays off the left

03:44but certainly last season Sassoulo it's no coincidence that he scored so many goals because

03:48he likes to stay really really high up the pitch he's very very quick and he plays off the shoulder of

03:52the fullback a lot likes to try and dart infield try and get on the end of through balls create

03:56one v one opportunities and scored a lot of goals that way one of the things that I really like

04:00watching about him and from what I've seen today is not just his pace but also he's fairly two-footed

04:05so he definitely prefers his right foot I think that's where you know it's what he takes set

04:10pieces off it's definitely his stronger foot but I've seen him score quite powerful goals off his left

04:14foot as well that obviously helps him be versatile in a number of different positions because it

04:18certainly means he could play off the right if required and it makes him a little bit less

04:22predictable for defenders as well because obviously you can go in the inside and the outside

04:25so just to give you a flavor of how sort of impressive his output was last season

04:31so looking at stats website FB Ref in terms of attacking midfields and wingers in the 14 divisions

04:39outside Europe's big leagues five big divisions because obviously he was playing Serie B last season

04:46he was in the top five percent for expected goals the top one percent of shots on target per 90 minutes

04:52played top 16 percent of shots per 90 in total top five percent of progressive passes received so

04:58I think that's telling you how high up the pitch he's getting how much he's seeing the ball in the

05:02opposition third and he was also second these stats from Wisecout second for second assists so

05:08essentially assisting the person who plays the final pass for the goal and also sixth in the entire

05:12division for touches in the opposition penalty area which considering he's not playing as a

05:16central striker is really impressive and I think it tells you how high up the pitch he gets now

05:21there's an obvious caveat to this which is this was a second division level and he's not come close

05:26to producing these kind of goal scoring numbers when he's played in the top divisions and I think

05:30that's an important caveat to make although you know he still has a pretty solid record for someone

05:35who's played predominantly out wide scoring five and seven goals in the two Serie A seasons before that

05:40so I thought it'll be interesting to go back a little bit because those stats are potentially a bit

05:45misleading in terms of it's a very different level to what he's played at previously and the level he'll be

05:49moving into next season but I think if we look at the 2022-23 Serie A seasons this was his first

05:55season of Sassuolo when they finished they either finished 14th or 15th so I think it gives you a good

06:01flavour in terms of his true level if you like in terms of playing for a team hopefully in a similar

06:06position to someone sort of aspiring to try and beat relegation and be in that kind of lower mid-table

06:12bracket and what kind of his level was so even then he was still in the top 12% for attacking midfielders

06:18and wingers for combined goals and assists that tells you his output and a not particularly

06:23productive team was pretty good but he was also in the top 7% for progressive carries so carrying the

06:30ball in dangerous areas and the top 5% for key passes as well so I think that tells you that he's

06:35not just about shooting he is someone who can contribute to all phases of the game and I would

06:40say he has two from what I've seen kind of like two key moves one is that pace in the iron which I've

06:44mentioned but he also likes to drift infield at times and be a bit more of a playmaker as well so

06:49definitely got a few different kind of strings to his bow and I think that's the main reason why

06:55you could look at it from the outside and say well someone's already got two left wingers why do they

06:59need another one I think the key here is that assigning a player who's experienced at the top

07:03level which we know is something they're really prioritising this summer something that I think

07:07is really important but he's also someone who is going to bring a lot of versatility can definitely

07:11play off the right if required he can definitely play through the middle either on his own or as a

07:15two whether it's in the start or within games could definitely play sort of off the main strike

07:20primarily he is I would have thought given his career so far going to play off the left because

07:25that does seem to be the position with which he's most comfortable and probably a little bit different

07:29to Mundell and Dingra just as I mentioned because certainly he gets a lot more shots away he probably

07:34plays a little bit more sort of within the penalty box or likes to try and play within the penalty box a

07:39little bit more than those two who are probably more kind of ball carriers and more dribblers that's

07:43certainly what the statistics would suggest but those are parts of the game where Lorient

07:47can contribute as well so yeah hopefully that's given you a little bit of an insight

07:52into Lorient and his strengths and what he might be able to bring to the team I think this is certainly

07:57one that makes us forward lines look pretty strong we've talked a little bit about players

08:02potentially going to the African Cup nations obviously there will be injuries across the course of the

08:06season I think you're adding some real strong competition here a player who can sort of push

08:11for starting position off the left but also can offer cover in a variety of areas as well so I think

08:16it just goes to show how ambitious some of them are in building a squad that they can compete very

08:21obviously there are now other positions of the pitch which I think are a pretty big priority now moving

08:25forward we've spoken about defenders and it's clear that some of them need to recruit in that part of the

08:29pitch as well you know and I think it's fairly obvious from the from the stories that we've already

08:33discussed this summer that they would like to to add another kind of high level goalkeeper for

08:37competition as well but I think this is very much another piece of the puzzle and encouraging that

08:42as we know you know this is a target they've been looking at for some number of weeks now a player that

08:46clearly they have identified as a key target and fingers crossed touch wood and we're now getting

08:52to a point where it looks like this deal will happen so yeah hopefully you've enjoyed this video

08:56um I know it's a little bit brief but um hopefully it's given you a bit of an insight into

09:00hopefully Sunderland's seventh summer signing as I say um out in Portugal this weekend for the two

09:06friendlies absolutely stacks of content coming both online on the website and on the youtube channel as

09:12well so uh yeah please keep you keep your eyes out for that and get involved and as ever thanks so

09:17much for watching on the whistle

Who is Armand Laurienté and what will he bring to Sunderland - #onthewhistle

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