Only a select few, across the whole of European football, have produced three assists in the space of one game this season.
Among them, as you might expect, are the usual suspects; the Thomas Mullers, the Paul Pogbas and, following his masterful display against St Etienne this weekend, the Lionel Messis.
One name you may be surprised to see on a seven-strong list, however, is that of Borna Sosa. Well, if your knowledge of Bundesliga football begins and ends at the doors of the Allianz Arena, that is.
For those of you on nodding terms with Germany’s top flight, well, it’s about time Sosa had his moment in the sun.
Since Stuttgart’s triumphant return to the Bundesliga in 2020, the Croatia international has been a revelation after all.
No one in the whole of Europe has completed more ‘deep crosses’ this term. And while that may seem like a rather niche statistic in a game that can get bogged down in binary far too often, it does highlight’s Sosa’s almost unravelled ability to pick out a man in the most crowded of penalty areas from even 20 or 30 yards away.
There’s a reason why he’s been compared to David Beckham over in Germany.
Will Borna Sosa be Aston Villa’s first signing under Steven Gerrard?
As a struggling, injury-hit Stuttgart side hosted in-form Mainz on Saturday afternoon, however, Sosa, so often the creator of goals, was the scorer of one this time around – his first in the Bundesliga and only his second in league football.
And what a way to break the duck.
The former Dinamo Zagreb wideman hammered a thunderous first-time effort into the back of the Mainz net. It even clipped the bar on it’s way in, just to add to the aesthetic.
With Steven Gerrard setting his sights on a new left-back heading into the January transfer window – regardless of Matt Target’s own penalty-area heroics this weekend – the £25 million-rated Sosa is understood to be right at the top of their winter wishlist (BILD).
Villa would be signing Sosa for his crossing ability rather than his shooting skills. But if he can add goals to his game on a more regular basis, then no one of a claret-and-blue persuasion will be complaining about that.
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