Euro 2024 - Player Radars #1

12 players I am looking forward to watching.

I recommended clicking ‘view in browser’ at the top to read the full post as some email providers will cut it short.

For the next month, the website has shifted its focus to the Euros before normal Premier League content resumes in July. If you haven’t checked it out yet, there is a dedicated Euro 2024 page containing: Group Predictions, Match Predictions, Predicted Goals/Clean Sheets, Friendly Tracker, Predicted Lineups, and more.

If you are looking for Fantasy points projections, those will be released on Schadenfreudist’s Patreon.

This member’s post picks the player from each team and provides their stats radar and why I am interested in watching them. The following teams are covered in this post: Portugal, Netherlands, Turkey, Austria, Spain, Scotland, Germany, England, Belgium, Albania, Slovenia, and Croatia.

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Bruno Fernandes 🇵🇹

Why I’m interested: I don’t know how a player can be so good but also divide opinion so much. He is essential for both club and country, possessing one of the highest 'value above replacement' metrics in world football. The numbers are clear: you are significantly more likely to win a football match with Bruno in your team than without.

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Jeremie Frimpong 🇳🇱

Why I’m interested: what an obscene radar… it’s almost like he isn’t a fullback. Started as the right winger in the 4-0 friendly win over Canada and got a goal and an assist in just 60 minutes. The key question is his playing time, but Koeman has suggested that Frimpong as a right winger with Dumfries behind him could be a viable strategy.

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Yusuf Yazıcı 🇹🇷

Why I’m interested: technically gifted, he has posted strong underlying numbers for Lille despite inconsistent starts. While his projections may not match those of Calhanoglu and Guler, his metrics in my model exceed market and other expectations.

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Christoph Baumgartner 🇦🇹

Why I’m interested: the radar above really pulls out the interesting blend of offensive and defensive contributions that Baumgartner brings to the team. It is rare to find an attacking midfielder with this balance of high percentiles. Expecting him to be involved in everything Austria does.

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Lamine Yamal 🇪🇸

Why I’m interested: He has been the best player for Spain in recent friendlies. I can’t remember the last time someone had such consistent output at such a young age. Not a small sample size either - the radar above is based on 2778 minutes played. It would not surprise me if he finished the tournament with the most goal involvement for Spain.

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Scott McTominay 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Why I’m interested: one of the most interesting Man United sub-narratives this season was the idea that McTominay was both saving and suffocating them at the same time. McTominay was Scotland’s top goalscorer in qualifying with 7 goals from 20 shots and 1.77 xG, with a shot conversion rate of 35%.

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Toni Kroos 🇩🇪

Why I’m interested: few surpass him in passing and distribution. This becomes particularly interesting to me in the context of the other profiles in this Germany team. I am looking for Kroos to drop deep to allow more freedom for Musiala, Wirtz, and Mittelstädt. It is a tight call on my numbers between Kroos, De Bruyne and Bruno Fernandes for tournament total assists.

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Jude Bellingham 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Why I’m interested: He just dropped a season putting up offensive numbers you would expect of an elite striker. What is interesting to me is that my numbers expect this to transfer well into his role for England, with him predicted to be England’s second-highest goalscorer behind Harry Kane.

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Romelu Lukaku 🇧🇪

Why I’m interested: I think Lukaku has been a bit underrated for years. While his club stats may appear underwhelming, his international performance tells a different story. Top goalscorer of the qualifiers with 14 goals and a shot conversion rate of 48%. My projection numbers expect Lukaku to be ~4th for Group Stage goals with ~1.8 xGoals.

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Berat Djimsiti 🇦🇱

Why I’m interested: My model numbers predict Albania to concede the most goals of any team in the group stage, with just 0.4 of a single clean sheet projected from all 3 games combined. The defence will be tested and Berat Djimsiti will be the heart of that. A reliable and unsung hero sitting at the heart of Atalanta’s defence this season, captaining them in the European final. Defensively, expect excellent positional awareness and making the majority share of Albania’s defensive actions. Offensively, expect build-up often starting from him and excellent long distribution.

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Benjamin Šeško 🇸🇮

Why I’m interested: attracting a lot of attention from big clubs this summer. Although he is still raw and needs more development, his profile has everything to see him become world-class. My numbers project him to have an incredible 30%+ of Slovenia’s goal share.

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Joško Gvardiol 🇭🇷

Why I’m interested: Admittedly, I have been fascinated with Gvardiol for a while. I put him down to be the ‘best signing’ in the Premier League last season. Maybe too much, but I think people forget that Gvardiol is just 22 years old. At this age, he has already performed at such a high level in Euros and the World Cup. I feel like he can do it all. My numbers back this up as no player contributes to Croatia’s expected points as much as him.

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Thanks for reading - be sure to check out more data at the Euros page: