A Profile Of Daniele Rugani As Arsenal Reportedly Re-Enter Talks To Sign The Defender

A Profile Of Daniele Rugani As Arsenal Reportedly Re-Enter Talks To Sign The Defender

Arsenal will re-enter talks over signing Daniele Rugani from Juventus, according to reports in the Italian media. So, what do we know about him, and would he be an improvement on Unai Emery’s current options?

The Italian started life at Empoli where he was given his senior debut by Maurizio Sarri. After making 81 appearances for the Azzurri, he made the £4.5m switch to Juventus in the 2015 winter transfer window.


Rugani was loaned back to Empoli for the remainder of the season before moving to the Bianconeri for the beginning of the 2015/16 season.

During his first campaign at Juve, he initially struggled for match time under manager Max Allegri. He made his debut as a substitute in a Champions League group stage match against Sevilla, but it was a brief cameo.

The centre-back had to wait until the middle of December to get his first outing in the league, but he began to play more regularly as the season went on, making 21 appearances and 14 starts in total.

Rugani’s second campaign was disrupted with injuries, and he was in and out of the side once again as Allegri’s side clinched their second successive league and cup double.

Following the departure of Leonardo Bonucci to AC Milan in 2017, the Italian was afforded more matches during the 2017/18 season, racking up 26 appearances but he never had the full trust of the manager.

With Bonucci returning after his brief spell with the Rossoneri last campaign, Rugani once again found himself lower down in the pecking order. His lack of minutes prompted talk that he would be departing this summer.

However, there have been two further complications. The return of his mentor Sarri as Juventus’s manager means there was hope for the player getting more minutes, but that optimism quickly evaporated following the arrival of Matthijs de Ligt from Ajax.

With his bit-part role at Juventus, it’s hard to ascertain whether he would be a genuine improvement on the options Arsenal manager Unai Emery currently has at his disposal.

If we look at his stats from last season, the numbers don’t compare favourably with the likes of Sokratis, Koscielny, Holding, Chambers or even Mustafi. Rugani had a 0% tackle success rate and averaged the fewest number of tackles (0.05) per 90 minutes, according to Wyscout.

The Italian averaged the fewest number of interceptions (4.31 per 90 mins), the lowest number of aerial duels (3.43 per 90 mins)), and had the lowest average of successful defensive actions per match (5.92).

Rugani is, however very good in the air when he attempts to make a header (he wins 67% of his aerial duels) and he is good at blocking shots (0.73 per 90 mins) but statistically, at least, he is actually worse than the defenders that the Gunners already have.

As I said, though, it would be interesting to see how those numbers changed if he was a regular starter. Will he get that chance at Arsenal? We shall see.