BBC Sport have posed the question – Is Anthony Elanga a natural fit for Newcastle United? | OneFootball

An interesting one from BBC Sport, as they analyse whether Anthony Elanga is a natural fit for Newcastle United?

The Nottingham Forest star flew into Newcastle Airport late Tuesday afternoon, ahead of his medical.

After very lengthy negotiations, a transfer fee of £55m agreed, with £52m guaranteed and £3m of potential add-ons if certain targets are met.

Anthony Elanga very much fits the profile of an Eddie Howe Newcastle United signing in terms of his age, 23 and his best years ahead of him and potential progress under Howe’s tuition.

However, if he a natural fit on the pitch for NUFC…

BBC Sport journalist Tom McCoy poses the question; ‘Is Anthony Elanga a natural fit for Newcastle United?’:

‘It is little surprise that Newcastle have renewed their pursuit of Anthony Elanga, after a failed move last summer, as the winger’s profile suits their high-energy and counter-attacking style under Eddie Howe.

Most obviously, Elanga provides pace and intensity. The 23-year-old recorded the third quickest top speed in the Premier League last season, while only Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon sprinted more per 90 minutes than the Nottingham Forest winger. Gordon and Elanga on opposite flanks would be a daunting scenario for opposition full-backs.

The Swede provides an end product too, with 17 top-flight goal involvements last season – only Mohamed Salah and Jacob Murphy, who is Newcastle’s current first-choice on the right of their attack, provided more assists than the 11 by Elanga. Five of those were from set-pieces and the other six from open-play crosses – both league highs.

Nonetheless, Elanga’s crossing accuracy from open play last season was a lowly 17% and his dribbling stats were unremarkable: 71 attempted, with a 35% success rate.

Which is not to accuse Elanga of being an ineffective dribbler – he demonstrated just how good at it he can be when carrying the ball at pace from his own half to score Forest’s winner against Manchester United in April.‘

These stats and analysis give a very balanced overview of Anthony Elanga.