00:00In terms of positionally, not so much as a style of play, but in terms of positionally, there are strong similarities here with Nordi Mugiele.
00:07And of course, not just because they both played in Germany last season.
00:14Mugiele, of course, at Leverkusen, Gertroide at Leipzig.
00:17So Gertroide came through at Feyenoord and that's where he spent the bulk of his career.
00:21A regular for a long period of time in the Eredivisie, moved to Leipzig last summer and played regularly last season, actually.
00:27Now, he's similar to Mugiele in that primarily he's probably a right back.
00:30However, he has played an awful lot of football at centre back.
00:33So he'd be very, very comfortable in both positions in Sunderland's current 4-3-3 system.
00:39And he would also be very comfortable playing on the right of a back three if at any point Sunderland do move to that system.
00:46So right back, centre back would definitely be his two main positions.
00:49However, like Mugiele, versatility is a real strength of his.
00:53He has also played at left back at times for Leipzig and previously in his career, he has also played in defensive midfield.
00:59So there's a lot of versatility there.
01:02What are we looking at statistically?
01:04What are his key strengths?
01:05Where does he kind of stand out?
01:07Well, the first thing to say that he is very strong defensively.
01:09If we look at White Scouts dated for the Bundesliga last year, he was 14th for recoveries in terms of defenders and 12th for counter pressing recoveries.
01:18So that's a really, really strong defensive skill set, if you like.
01:23He also ranked really highly for tackles.
01:26So if I look at FB Ref, which is the stats website, which we've been using a lot this summer to look at all these exciting new signs that Sunderland have made,
01:34he was in the top 14% for tackles in the defensive third of the pitch.
01:38And he was also in the top 22% of tackles, one per 90.
01:42Significantly, a bit like Mugiele, he was also in the top 1% for the percentage of aerial duels that he won in the Bundesliga last season.
01:49And Labrise has made it really clear that in the latter stages of the window, he wanted to add some height and some aerial prowess
01:56because he felt it was a position where Sunderland were potentially vulnerable.
02:00Seth Peace is, of course, so important in the Premier League.
02:02He felt that he was really happy with Sunderland's options, but he was a little bit worried about a lack of height, a lack of aerial prowess.
02:08Mugiele was a big part of addressing that.
02:11And Gertrude very much adds to that some really impressive heading numbers.
02:14But if I was to kind of pick out the bit that really impresses me about Gertrude, the bit that statistically really stands out,
02:21it's that he's excellent in possession.
02:22He's a really, really strong passer of the ball and really good in build-up play.
02:27So if we look at his FB ref stats for passing last season, now this is comparing him to full-backs.
02:33His stats would be even more impressive if we were to compare him to centre-backs.
02:37But he was in the top 1% of the top five divisions for the long passes completed.
02:42The top 4% for progressive passing distance.
02:46And also the top 2% for touches in the middle third of the pitch.
02:50So that tells you that he's getting really involved in advanced areas and really involved in the build-up play.
02:55So very comfortable in possession.
02:58Wisecout also, another stat there.
03:01He was 10th for defenders in terms of passes completed per 90 in the Bundesliga last season.
03:07So this is a player really comfortable on the ball.
03:09And I think this is really relevant because when I was researching Jean Lasumi a little bit earlier this summer,
03:15when it looked like someone was going to try and sign him and he might be coming to the club,
03:18what really stood out about Lasumi was his defensive numbers were really good,
03:21but his passing numbers were off the scale, really top-level European elite passer of the ball.
03:27That was clearly something that someone wanted to add to their defensive options,
03:30a bit more sort of quality and build-up play, a bit more composure in possession.
03:33And I think that Gertrude is signing to me, it looks maybe a little bit like they're trying to address that.
03:39Now this doesn't necessarily mean that the Lasumi deal is off.
03:42Again, I'm recording earlier this morning, this could have changed a little bit or potentially significantly by the time you watch this.
03:47But I think it's clear that Bologna's stance at this stage hasn't changed.
03:51They're asking for, if they were to sell, Lasumi would be an absolute massive bid
03:55because they're certainly digging their heels in and not accepting the level that Sunderland have offered so far.
04:00They also haven't made a huge amount of progress in adding more defensive options of their own,
04:04which has kind of strengthened their stance on Lasumi.
04:07So while Sunderland really liked Lasumi and therefore you can't rule it out,
04:09I think the fact that they're moving on Gertrude tells you that the Leukemi deal at this point is quite unlikely.
04:15And I'm definitely seeing some things in Gertrude that suggest to me he might be a good alternative to Leukemi.
04:22I mean, not exactly the same for sure, but in terms of some of their skill sets
04:25and some of the qualities that they bring to the squad
04:27and in terms of adding something different to Sunderland's defensive options,
04:30I think there's definitely some similarities.
04:32And yeah, the fact that Gertrude can compete in a number of different positions across the back line,
04:37I think makes him a really, really sort of savvy late addition.
04:41Watching his clips, he definitely has some strengths in the final third.
04:44I've seen him make some good overlapping runs, seen him score a few goals,
04:47both with his head and his feet, put some really nice crosses into the box.
04:51But I think, yeah, he has some really strong defensive attributes
04:53and also very, very calm in possession.
04:55Those are the kind of the main things that stand out from the research I've done with him.
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