Athletic Club star Oihan Sancet is a problem too many for many a defence | OneFootball

There’s a whiff of life’s natural comedy in the idea that Athletic Club’s hardest player to track is a 6 foot 2 (188cm) man with moustache and ample heft to go with it. The one capable of slipping through the defensive radar is probably the bulkiest of the Basque bunch, but there he goes, Oihan Sancet, gliding into the box, out of mind if not sight.

He did have a more discreet season last year, registering 6 goals and 6 assists, as Nico and Inaki Williams hogged the limelight, but this year neither have been able to eclipse Sancet. The 24-year-old is the leading scorer for Athletic this year with 8 to his name already, and only Inaki has more goal contributions overall. In fact, outside of the top two, only Osasuna’s Ante Budimir has more in the league. Appearing in and around the box, when he does so, he busts through the door – ‘here’s Sancet’ whispers Jack Nicholson gleefully of the shining number eight.

Ernesto Valverde proved his wisdom again last year by making Gorka Guruzeta the element of surprise in Los Leones frontline, allowing him to leave the channels while Sancet got beyond him. This season, Sancet has been given more freedom. It is just one too many problems for most defences to handle.

Sport is full of brilliant duos, but once you start combining more talents while still maintaining a creative relationship, the possibilities multiply. Inaki Williams will naturally stretch any defence on the right side, with pace to burn and a constant willingness to use it. On the other flank, Nico Williams is more and more slippery, and increasingly smart with his use of the ball, but at the very least you can predict where they will be. With the merry brothers working away on the wings, it opens up even more space for Sancet to roam. Forecasting where Sancet will appear is much harder – it’s a matter of timing, and Sancet simply needs to wait for the space to open, and pick the moment to be there.

That was illustrated perfectly against Real Sociedad and Rayo Vallecano, La Liga’s 5th and 6th best defences, against who Sancet’s trio of goals earned Athletic six points. In the Basque derby, Sancet finds the mismatch, standing stock still for two seconds before gandering in to tower above the much smaller Javi Lopez. “I saw that Nico was putting it up high at the back post, and I arrived. The boss tells us lots of times to load the box with a lot of players. On one of those occasions, we managed to score,” he noted afterwards.

Backs against the very tight advertising hoardings at Vallecas, a goal down with 25 minutes to go, Sancet drifted beyond the field of vision of Pep Chavarria to side-foot home a brilliant Nico cross. The Rayo left-back raised an arm furiously in hope of offside, knowing he had lost Sancet, despite having had one, two, three, four looks at him as Williams cut inside. Chavarria widened his arms 13 minutes later, but did not remonstrate with Gerard Gumbau, sympathetic to his cause. Holding his run with admirable patience, Sancet simply watched and waited for the Catalan midfielder to vacate the top of the box, and whipped a crosscourt forehand into the corner for the winner.

“He’s in a great moment, he’s very focused,” said Valverde after the Rayo win. “He’s making a great effort, because he has a problem with his ankle, and he’s playing with a degree of pain. Even so, well, he’s performing at a top level and we expect for a lot from him.”

This year has seen a much more effective Sancet, who is outperforming his expected goals domestically by 2.4, and is averaging a goal every 110 minutes including his Europa League action. It’s good enough for FBRef to rank him third in goals per game in Spain, and currently it takes him just three shots to score each goal – also a podium place. Despite shooting from almost the exact same average distance last season (20cm closer in), he is over three times more effective, and has nearly doubled his expected goals per game.

Just as his disguise of his intentions are an enjoyable irony given his size, it’s slightly absurd to think as a teenager he spent much of his time as a deeper midfielder. You can see it in the body shape, the awareness and the protection of the ball, but his nose for goal belongs to midfielders of the past. Maybe it’s the number on his back, but seeing him maraud through midfield, for that is the word for a man of his size to carry the ball into space, there’s a nod to Steven Gerrard in him somewhere.

Gifted with the nimble feet you attribute to his more diminutive playmaking compatriots, Sancet’s neat and tidy touch gets him out of any trouble. Where opponents find themselves in bother, is whenever he senses that their weight is going in the wrong direction. With a deceptive quickness over his significant first strides, he slides right past on the turn, like a revolving door.

Maybe the most interesting thing about Sancet is that he does not necessarily seek the ball. It’s the fundamental to most forward-thinking Spanish midfielders, the defining feature of their game tends to be a craving to touch it, and usually as often as possible. In his case, he truly is a fan of one-touch football – the decisive one. So far this season, that’s the perfect description of what he is to this Athletic Club side.