Liverpool want Todd Cantwell in the summer, but what is he?
Liverpool want to sign Norwich starlet Todd Cantwell in the summer, but what sort of player is he? We had a dive to find out.
Well, at a very basic level he’s a left winger with an eye for goal but few assists – which is odd considering he’s playing in a side with Teemu Pukki.
According to reports, Jurgen Klopp and Michael Edwards have been looking at the English youngster for a while now and are ready to make a move.
Using Smarter Scout, we can see the type of things that make Todd Cantwell tick and see how he might fit in at Liverpool. So, he plays off the left. But we know that Klopp requires his forwards to lead the press from the front and be an active first line of defence.
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Cantwell can do that.
With good disruption, recovery and ground duels out of possession marks (83/99, 54, 84) it’s clear that the Norwich lad is able to get his foot in and make tackles higher up the field and that’s a good start.
He’s been absolutely vital for the Canaries moving forward as well. Cantwell have been involved in 54% of the club’s expected goals and is involved in 63% of Norwich’s moves that end in goals. In other words, Todd Cantwell is absolutely vital.
So the youngster is an important cog moving forward, can defend but admittedly his defending quality is poor, but his passing into the area needs work, along with dribbling and ball retention.
The player Cantwell is most likely to replace, you’d imagine, is Divock Origi. Origi has even worse ball retention (11), but is better at the defensive aspects of the game apart from recovery. He’s stronger in the tackle, has a higher quality rating for defending and can dribble and shoot better.
But Origi is older, on more money and isn’t a homegrown player. He may also be agitating for more regular first team football, while Cantwell – you’d assume – would be happy for his role to be a back-up for Sadio Mane.
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So what sort of player is Cantwell? Someone who looks like a good model for Klopp, with good stats for his age and room to grow.