Rangers Scouting: The Mexican goal-scoring midfielder that is perfect transfer replacement for Scott Arfield

When then manager Pedro Caixhina was handed what at the time was a genuine “war-chest” given the club's financial situation, his first point of call was Mexico. After meetings with interlocutor after interlocutor, he came away with two supposed stars and the Ibrox purse over £4m light.

Eduardo Herrera joined for just under £2m after a poor 16/17 campaign where he managed just seven goals in 33 games. The writing was on the wall from the beginning it seemed.

Carlos Pena joined to much greater fanfare, no doubt helped by his iconic nickname “Gullit” for just under £3m, though he too struggled in that 16/17 campaign in a foreshadowing of what was to come. Considering these two abject failures, I don't doubt many will have wobbly knees at the idea of re-entering the Mexican market, though the two players signed ticked none of the requisite boxes, didn't fit the system and were vastly overvalued.

Rangers shouldn't just re-enter the Mexican market for the sake of it, albeit there are rational arguments that the marketing boost alone is enough, though, I do think we should if the optimal situation presents itself, like in the form of Monterrey and Mexican NT central midfielder Arturo Gonzalez.

Profile

Gonzalez’s build is reminiscent of a more muscular Steven Davis, both typically being the shorter player in any potential duels. This is counter-balanced by decent strength, and in Gonzalez’s case, impressive power. He is quick without being rapid, but short legs and intense running style make him look faster than he is. Gonzalez usually starts on the left of a pivot or three in midfield. His modus operandi is the more attacking member of that aforementioned trio or pivot, with the most applicable tactical buzzword being 'mezzala', though we will focus on his abilities shortly.

The graphic below plots Gonzalez's Transfermarkt value over his career, with injury spells marked with white. Although transfer value is not an exact science and not 100 percent correlated with pitch performances, it does a decent job of summarising a player's career. Gonzalez was very much stuck in second gear, plagued by a few injuries and a pre-pandemic dip in form. However, since the beginning of 2021 his value has sky-rocketed and he has been reintroduced into the Mexican national team. Now is perhaps a better time than ever for him to test himself in Europe given he's brimming with confidence and in a vein of form that necessitates a starting role.

His statistical profile, which considers his output over the past 365 days compared to his positional peers in Liga MX, corroborates that good form. The immediate standouts are within the first two sections of the graphic. Gonzalez’s attacking and movement outputs are all comfortably in the top half of the sample, with six of the 10 either flirting with or above the 90th percentile. This includes his three penalty box metrics and dribbles and foul differential, suggesting that, for his position, he is an elite threat in the penalty box and incredibly economical when running at players.

Despite low quantitative and qualitative passing output, Gonzalez manages to put up some incredible progressive and creative numbers, suggesting he has the requisite skill in goal-creation. Defensively his statistical output is average. His defensive duel success and aerial duels p90 stand out for the right reasons, whilst his aerial duel success is poor.

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Danger from out-wide

Despite what conventional wisdom would suggest, Gonzalez is a real threat from wide whilst playing as a central midfielder. Given that he most often starts on the left of the engine room, he is given plenty of scope to drift and operate almost like an impromptu left-midfielder. This is evident in the penalty area delivery graphic below, where the overwhelming majority come from wide-left. It’s a mixed bag of conventional passes, carries and crosses. All three are firmly strings to his bow.

Often Gonzalez will pick the ball up in the left half-space and drift wide with the ball or receive directly in position. When there, his diverse crossing range is most valuable, whether that be driven or floated. His ability to cross from wide and deep forces a defender to pick him up, opening up additional space down the by-line for the winger or those in the box awaiting delivery. The first example is seen directly below. Gonzalez chooses the path less travelled by playing it quickly in a teammate on the edge of the box instead of floating it in. Timing this pass is incredibly difficult, as you need to avoid the three defenders in front and play it with the required pace to reach a teammate.

From a similar position, Gonzalez does defer to the more popular route, floating it accurately towards his striker, who is then able to place it into the back of the net. Gonzalez’s ability to deliver high-quality balls is not limited to open play scenarios. His ability from dead balls matches that from open play, and sees him take responsibility for Monterrey’s corners and deep free-kicks.

It's relatively easy to imagine the abundance of chances created off the back of Gonzalez’s crosses. Despite a plethora of options on the receiving end, outside of James Tavernier, Rangers' crossing options are relatively limited and inconsistent. Adding a primary option on the left to match Tavernier’s threat on the right would be ideal. If that be in the form of Gonzalez, it would also allow Ryan Kent to maintain his current style and even afford him greater freedom.

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Middle-Third Activities

Despite the headlines and attention afforded primarily towards Gonzalez’s activity in the final third, his activity in the middle of the park is valuable and perhaps under-appreciated. Despite Gonzalez’s apparent preference for in-possession activities, he does provide something out of it. Though he is no defensive juggernaut, a mix of hard work and his muscular frame allow him to come out on top in defensive and loose ball duels occasionally as well as popping up in different areas of the pitch. Below we can see the totality of Gonzalez’s defensive recoveries with the caveats pointed out by colour and shape. It is by no means a graphic splattered with an incredible number of recoveries; however, both Gonzalez’s role and Monterrey’s style contribute to this.

Gonzalez won’t be signed due to his work out of possession, though one of the central parts of any potential move would be his ability to progress the ball in the middle third. Additionally, he provides symmetrical progression, moving forwards with the ball at his feet and playing a high number of accurate progressive passes. This is seen below in the graphic where his progressive actions from the past calendar year have been plotted. The white tinge to the illustration shows a slight bias towards passes, but this is natural; you will not find many central-midfielders who progress the ball while running more than passing. Again to no surprise, most actions originate from the left side.

Gonzalez’s interplay with his winger or fullback is impressive and one of Monterrey’s most common methods to gain valuable yards in the opposition half. Given his preference for the left side and his left foot, he is often seen interplaying with his left-winger and left-back; think of the exact role Joe Aribo performs with Calvin Bassey and Ryan Kent. Due to his aforementioned crossing ability, defenders need to come tight when he is on the ball, buying his teammates increased space to receive in or target. The example below is on the opposite side but still has value. Here he plays in his winger, noticing that he has better deep positioning than the defender and is primed to win the foot-race; the timing and direction of the pass are appropriate, and as such, the winger has a direct entry to the box.

Gonzalez can also access the final third through clever touches and feints. His speed is not breakneck, and he doesn't have the sort of meandering runs Kent pulls off in his bag. Instead, like Aribo or Kamara, his intelligence, touch, and spatial awareness allow him to dupe opposition players. The example below is perfect; here, we see him receive the ball back to goal, and out of the blue, spins his man.

Ball progression is one of the most essential traits for a midfielder and even more so for the current Rangers set-up. Though Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side don't necessarily lack it given the personnel at the club, it could be improved, which Gonzalez would help with.

Goal-Scoring

As highlighted in the statistical portion of this analysis, Gonzalez’s goalscoring output is firmly amongst the best of his peers. We may be able to get some key information as to his success in the graphic below, which shows his shots from the past calendar year. In terms of the goals, the majority are close to the goal as conventional wisdom would suggest, as well as two goals from similar positions from deep outside the box. Despite his two goals originating from deep, Gonzalez takes too many shots from sub-optimal positions, whether that be too deep or wide, however, given the possession Monterrey enjoy it's somewhat excusable.

Despite his small stature Gonzalez is a decent threat in the air, this was touched on in the statistical section where his high number of aerial duels p90 was highlighted. Though the example below shows Gonzalez scoring with his head, the important aspect to consider is his attacking movement. Here we see him shift quickly to the front post to offer an option to his teammate who is set to cross the ball. He dashes between the two front post defenders, forcing them to stick or twist, and both stick. As a result, Gonzalez goes up unchallenged and heads the ball into the opposite corner. The intelligence of this run and the ensuing split it caused between the two centre-backs is invaluable. Given the sheer number of crosses Rangers attempt, another runner and one who is intelligent would clearly be a precious commodity.

Despite establishing earlier that Gonzalez should be taking fewer long-shots that isn't to say he should eliminate them totally from his game. Gven his striking power, he does provide a threat from deep. The example below comes from a well-worked free-kick routine where the ball is rolled to Gonzalez, who then steps up and strikes it with the laces, with the ball slammed into the bottom right corner. Not every shot will achieve this optimal outcome but he does accomplish this at a higher rate than others. He can also hit it well with an open body, striking with the inside of his foot, though he is best when given a running start and freedom to "smash" the ball.

A lot has been made about the lack of efficacy or threat that Rangers provide from outside the box, with our lack of midfield shooting options often highlighted. Gonzalez would offer some much-needed metal when striking the ball, a trait that becomes especially valuable considering the dearth of options available.

Fit and Feasibility

Gonzalez would provide tactical and technical flow, whether arriving as an additional option or replacing an existing midfielder. Beyond matching the exploits of the current crop, he would also provide a more consistent and serious goal-scoring threat and general aggression in the final third. These are offerings that are effectively limited to the ageing and soon out-of-contract Scott Arfield.

Given Gonzalez’s age and career trajectory, this summer is likely to be his big pay-day, only increased because he is available on a Bosman and can demand a more significant pay packet.

Rangers should match his demands to a certain point; however, only if it can be accommodated within the wage structure. Gonzalez would be a welcome addition to the Rangers starting lineup but not to the extent that he should sit atop the wages ladder.