Should Borussia Dortmund look to replace Raphaël Guerreiro with David Raum?

Statistical Comparison

Now that we have a general picture of what each player excels in on a qualitative level, we can compare the players in terms of their overall statistical output. In terms of Guerreiro’s numbers, the stats show much of what we might expect – strong offensive output for his position but a not so strong defensive output. He has been in the top 95+ percentiles for shots, non penalty goals and passes attempted over the course of the last year. The data also shows that he boasts a very high pass completion percentage of 85.3% per 90 minutes, the majority of which are progressive in nature, further underlying his attacking and creative intent. He also boasts a high shot-creating action rate of 2.74 per 90 minutes.

On the defensive end however, Guerreiro falls into the lower percentile bracket for pressures, interceptions, blocks and clearances, with the Portuguese international falling particularly low in terms of clearances (0.78) per 90. This number can be attested to the amount of times Dortmund have failed to clear the ball effectively from their own penalty area this season.

David Raum has similarly impressive offensive and creative numbers, even exceeding the Portuguese international in some key areas. The German international falls in the 99th percentile in terms of assists with 0.36 per 90 minutes as opposed to Rapha’s 0.13. This is reflected in Raum’s haul of three goals and 11 assists in the Bundesliga as opposed to Guerreiro’s four goals and two assists. Raum also led the league in terms of sprints (1058) and crosses from open play (188) for the 2021/22 season.

Raum’s defensive numbers are also a bit better than Guerreiro’s with the German international boasting a higher number of pressures (13.45), blocks (1.66), and clearances (1.66) than his Portuguese counterpart. Both of course still fall in the lower percentiles in terms of their defensive output.