How does reported Liverpool target Rugani stack up against Lovren?

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Liverpool have been linked with a move for rarely used Juventus defender Daniele Rugani.

According to Calciomercato, the Italy international has emerged as a potential transfer target for the Reds along with Manchester United and Arsenal.

Rugani has been frozen out at Juve since the arrival of Maurizio Sarri as manager, with Matthijs de Ligt and Leonardo Bonucci the mainstays at centre-back. There is also further competition from Merih Demiral.

The 25-year-old was once dubbed the future of Juventus by former manager Max Allegri, but the defender’s long-term prospects don’t look great at the moment.

Liverpool’s interest comes fairly out of the blue, with the Reds particularly strong in central defence at the moment.

Arguably, Dejan Lovren would be the most likely to leave Anfield in order to make way for Rugani, having only recently been linked with AS Roma and AC Milan.

But how does reported target Rugani stack up against the 30-year-old statistically?

TBR’s view – Statistics show there’s little in it

WhoScored data shows that in the 2018/19 season, Rugani made 15 league appearances to Lovren‘s 13.

Per 90 minutes, Lovren actually beat Rugani for successful tackles (1.2, 0.5) and clearances (3.9, 3.4), while Rugani made slightly more blocks (0.9, 0.5) and was dribbled past less (0.2, 0.6).

Lovren made less fouls per 90 (0.2, 1.1), but Rugani had a better pass completion rate (90%, 86.6%).

It would seem that there isn’t really much between the pair statistically, but WhoScored have Lovren rated slighter higher overall (7.08) than Rugani (6.84).

It is worth pointing out Rugani is still only 25 and is still some time away from his peak years.