Barcelona are said to be on the hunt for Franck Kessie, who's been dubbed the next Yaya Toure.
At first glance, a move for the powerful Ivorians checks every box.
A tough tackler
Kessie is a big bully in midfield. He registers 2 tackles per game and wins more than 70% of his tackles.
For a player who has spent 7 seasons in the 'brute-force' Italian league, one can expect nothing less but grit and power from the 25-year-old.
It has been said that a physical midfielder is what Barca lacks, and Kessie will provide just that, particularly for European games, where bullies are really needed.
Comes for free
Kessie is also going to join Barcelona as a free agent - that's if he doesn't renew his contract before the summer.
Landing such a talented midfielder for free seems like a steal in today's market.
A player of his pedigree could easily cost €40m. Transfermarkt pegs his market value at €48m.
A scorer
Kessie is a goalscoring midfielder, which is something Barca need.
Frenkie de Jong recently scored a beauty in the Europa League, but no Barca midfielder has scored as many as 5 goals this season. Kessie has reached that tally for Milan in 25 games.
Kessie attempts 1.2 shots per game, which accounts for why he gets on the scoresheet more often than other midfielders.
However, if we look more closely, this may not be the best signing for Barcelona.
Doesn't fit the profile
Can Kessie fit into the Barcelona quick passing style? That's a genuine question.
While he's not a bad passer, the former Atalanta man only completes about 80% of his passes. Compare that with Pedri and Frenkie who regularly complete 90+% of their passes.
Thus, Barca may need to give Kessie a lot of time to adapt.
We have Nico
Barcelona are doing well to groom the likes of Nico Gonzalez into becoming a great midfielder in the near future. This was what was done for Busquets as a prodigy.
Signing Kessie may further limit the development of Nico, and maybe Gavi as there will limited minutes to go round to help the development of our youngsters.
