Every season I try to write short intro pieces into Norwich’s new signings. I tend to not cover domestic transfers as these players are generally well known and I have little to add. With the international transfers who tend to be more unknown prospects, especially the players Norwich tend to target, there is a bit of space for some analysis.
Norwich’s first dive into the overseas market this season has been for Spanish winger Borja Sainz, signing from Turkey on a free* transfer after a clause in his contract allowed him to leave Giresunspor. Prior to his season in Turkey, Sainz had three seasons in Spain, two in the La Liga with Alavés and one in the Segunda División with Real Zaragoza on loan. He also represented Spain’s U19s 5 times, scoring 3 goals. At 22, he has achieved about 150 appearances in all competitions.
Sainz made his debut at 18 and was earmarked to develop into a high quality player, unfortunately he never managed to establish himself in the Alavés first team and was sent down a division to get more regular gametime. This worked out with him individually gaining over 1,500 minutes on the pitch. Zaragoza finished midtable, drawing a remarkable 20 of their 42 games and went on a streak of drawing 9 games in a row, 7 of which were 1–1. But thats a whole other story.
*“Free” transfer is a bit misleading. Sainz’s agent will have made sure a healthy amount of the money Norwich saved on the transfer fee went to the player (and themselves) as a signing on fee.
In Turkey, Sainz played nearly all his minutes on the left wing of Girensunspor’s 4–2–3–1. He would regularly come in very narrow onto his natural right foot, this is in contrast to his season at Zaragoza where he would play on the right wing where he would offer more width.
Moving to the left wing in Girensunspor’s formation allowed Sainz to unleash his goal threat where he finished with 9 goals and the team’s second highest scorer.
Sainz’s radar above shows just how much of a threat he was, with his xG per 90 and shots per 90 both around the 70th percentile for players in his position. Not bad considering Girensunspor had the lowest amount of goals in the league (discounting the two clubs who withdrew due to the major earthquake in Feburary 2023). Also of note is this is a man who likes to dribble, and with it and draws a lot of fouls. When playing on the right wing for Zaragoza he attempted even more dribbles per game and doubled the amount of crosses, but the amount of shots he took reduced by about 25%.
The sheer amount of dribbles Sainz attempts is outstanding, in one match alone he attempted 29 dribbles (succeeding in 18 of them). For context Kenny McLean attempted 34 dribbles the entire season for Norwich in 22/23. Sainz’s 7 dribbles per 90 for Girensunspor last season is even higher than Norwich’s top dribbler Hernandez, who attempted about 6 per 90.
Whether Sainz always picks the best moment to dribble is another matter. He has lost possession 43 times in his own third in the last year and has an unwelcome trait of taking on opponents in risky areas. When Sainz does dribble, he also has a habit of going laterally rather than vertically, which is ironic as he specifically described himself as a ‘vertical’ player in his signing interview.
Below is an example of Sainz coming inside rather than heading for the byline.
- In a not atypical moment for Sainz he receives the ball in the wide area, slightly behing him forcing him to pause and open up his body. He then moves laterally past one defender, drawing another towards him.
2. After beating the 2nd defender, a third is now drawn to Sainz as he continues to move into the centre of the pitch.
3. Finally, after evading a third challenge, Sainz releases the ball to teammate and darts into the box. His teammate swings a fairly hopeless cross straight out of play and Sainz lets his frustration be known.
While Sainz manages to make three successful dribbles, he has gained no ground towards the opposition goal and hasn’t particularly disrupted their defensive shape. It is a sign of a player trying to do as much as he can on his own, which he might have some rightful cause to given that his teammates are not offering much movement in front of him.
While Sainz is much more likely to create something through a dribble than a pass, he isn’t a bad passer of the ball. His personal numbers struggled last season, but that is largely due to being in an ineffective team.
Sainz successfully dribbled into the box 26 times, compared to successfully passing or crossing 29 times, in the last year. His crossing suffers from being predominately right footed and playing on the right hand side. He would often float an out-swinging cross to the far post area, these are generally fairly easy to defend against and particularly hard for an attacker to do much with. However, Sainz’s main asset isn’t his creativity. There were several players at Girensunspor who setup more shots and registered higher xA. Where Sainz did shine was in front of goal, no teammate took more shots than him and he was the 2nd highest scorer in the team. Over the course of the season he netted 9 times from an xG of 7.4
Such an over performance from a midfield player like Sainz would usually lead me to assume he scored a couple of screamers which inflated his numbers but are unlikely to be repeated too often. His shot map though shows only one goal from outside of the box, from a cumulative 1 xG. Most of Sainz’s goals came from sensible shot positions and he showed a good level of finishing.
The area in which Sainz really stands out, and the area which Norwich’s interest was most likely piqued, was his counter-pressing. He is a tireless worker against the ball and harries defenders relentlessly. In the last year he won the ball close to 40 times in the opposition’s defensive third, which lead to 15 shots and 4 goals.
In 2106 Jurgen Klopp stated that ‘no playmaker in the world can be as good as a good counterpress’. We all know that the biggest influence on Wagner’s tactics is Klopp and they developed this philosophy of counterpressing (gengenpress in German) together as players at Mainz under their coach Wolfgang Frank. For David Wagner to implement his style, he is more focused on having players that can press well for 90 minutes than having someone who can thread a pass through numerous defenders. So while Sainz’s passing numbers are not particularly standout, his ability to create chances for himself and his teammates through winning the ball in the opposition third is and this is what makes him a suitable player for David Wagner.
There will be a temptation for many to compare Sainz to a previous attacker Norwich had in Emi Buendia, both started out in Spain and were busy workers off the ball. But that is where the similarity finishes really. Emi wasn’t much of a goal threat and the strongest aspect of his game was creativity through passing. The Norwich player who is most comparable with Sainz currently is probably Milot Rashica (another player labelled an Emi Buendia replacement), both look to run at players and take shots when ever possible and Rashica developed a strong off the ball game while at Galatasaray.
As mentioned in my preview of what Wagner might bring to Norwich, I commented that a he isn’t a coach who creates chances through passing networks or possession. He looks to progress the ball through dribbles and create chances via the press. These are two things Sainz seemingly does well. Whether he can have a fruitful season at Norwich will rely on the usual factors in whether he can adapt to a new league and country quickly and whether Norwich can organise their press effectively, it is no use if Saniz is charging off pressing alone, without support from his teammates.
The fact Sainz settled in very quickly to Turkey having never played outside of Spain is a good sign he might be able to do the same in England. If Norwich can sort their press out with a full David Wagner is another question, and one which will likely determine whether Norwich have a good season altogether.
