Mario Pasalic left after scoring the first goal of Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain.
For a while there was hope that Pasalic could thrive in the blue of Chelsea, but it is in the blue and black of Atalanta that he has found a perfect home.
The Croatian international first moved to Stamford Bridge from Hajduk Split in 2014 but failed to make a single competitive appearance for the Blues before making a permanent move to Atalanta last month. Work permits were a problem, but that hasn’t stopped him from being successful in Italy.
“I’m a central midfielder, my favorite player is Frank Lampard, so I’m very happy to be a Chelsea player”, he said after joining the Blues in 2014.
And while his goal in Lisbon ultimately failed to stop PSG from winning 2-1, the strike left Chelsea fans wondering: what if?
That sense of uncertainty surrounds nearly every outbound transfer from a young player who continues to thrive elsewhere. What was missing? Could he have thrived if he had been given more time?
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Looking at the numbers for this season it is easy to understand why there is a hint of regret related to Pasalic’s departure. The 25-year-old has the third-highest xG among central midfielders in the top five European leagues who have played a minimum of 1014 minutes this season (8.97).
His four assists in Serie A have put him in the top five (shared with six other players) this season, while his goal conversion rate (17.308%) among central midfielders with a minimum of 1,000 league minutes him. sees fifth highest in Serie A.
His passing numbers are also a good read. His accuracy in forward passes (86.87%) is the third best in Serie A among central midfielders in 2019/20. By comparison, the accuracy of passing into the penalty area (66.67%) places him in seventh place among Serie A central midfielders who have played 1,000 minutes this season.
Interestingly, Pasalic’s time in Bergamo saw him used in a variety of positions by Gian Piero Gasperini, including defensive midfielder, central midfielder, playmaker and even striker. The latter is a byproduct of his aerial prowess, with two of his nine goals this season coming from headers.
Pasalic is best described as a box-to-box midfielder. For this reason, it’s fairly well rounded, but that also means it doesn’t have a distinctive feature.
Let’s look at his last Serie A assist against Lecce in March. Pasalic moved into the gap created when left-back engaged Hans Hateboer on the side. He realized that the passage was not active, but he remained in that area.
Antonin Barak abandoned Pasalic and hired Josip Ilicic who created the space for Ilicic to slide Pasalic behind. From there he drew to Duvan Zapata and Atlanta conceded the fourth goal of the afternoon.
The fact that Pasalic registered an assist is more a product of the system that Gasperini created rather than an individual genius on the part of the Croatian. This does not mean minimizing its role in the transfer, but rather defining its influence accurately.
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Pasalic is a good athlete with an altruistic attitude that gives Atalanta a threat of goals from midfield. His ability to find dangerous pockets of space in the last third makes him beneficial to the team.
Overall, while it might be tempting to try to bring Pasalic back at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea don’t really need him right now – and the player himself would be better served by staying put.
The 25-year-old found a unique system for his skills in Atlanta, with Gasperini requiring a handyman who can follow instructions.
Lampard’s Chelsea remains a work in progress, and launching Pasalic there and expecting the same result would likely frustrate everyone involved.
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