No final do Classic With Sporting, Francesco Farioli, coach of FC Porto, even hoped that the injury suffered by Samu, close to half-time, was "nothing serious", but the worst-case scenario for the 21-year-old Spanish international ended up being confirmed, who is expected to be absent from the team for what remains to be played this season at the expense of a rupture in the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. This is the second clinical case of great complexity in the attack of dragonsafter Luuk de Jong suffered, in the game against Estoril, an injury to his left knee that left him out of action in November for the remainder of the season. A misfortune that had also affected, two months earlier, central defender Nehuén Pérez, who continues to recover from a complete rupture of his Achilles tendon. Returning to the attack, the injury suffered by the hitherto untouchable Samu opens up more than a mere place in FC Porto's eleven. It is also a question of status that is at stake. The Spaniard is still, far behind the competition, the team's top scorer (20 goals in all competitions), and that is a profile that is difficult to build. At all levels. Without Samu in the equation, Farioli will have to find a new goal man. Even more than that, taking into account the work developed with the young Spaniard to make him a reference also when building attacks. In the front line for succession are Deniz Gül and Terem Moffi, but what is each one worth in numbers? THE More football answers this question with the help of data compiled by SofaScorebased on matches from the national leagues and the Europa League. Deniz Gül could have an advantage, at this stage, as he is more familiar with Farioli's ideas for the striker position. The Turkish international has scored three goals in the 23 games analyzed, having participated in just seven percent of the team's goals when he was on the field. It is, by far, the lowest value of the three forwards under analysis. Still, he exceeds the expected goals value (2.1), having also added five key passes and, on average, two touches of the ball in the opponent's area. All this in almost 600 minutes of use (760 if we count the Portuguese Cup games), some of them spent on the left wing of the attack. Despite not playing since the end of November, when he entered into dispute with Nice, Terem Moffi arrives at Dragão having spent more time (785 minutes) than Gul, but with the same number of goals scored (3). The Nigerian international participated in 24.1 percent of Nice's goals (Samu reaches 34.7 percent in this field) and is, of the three, the only one with a total of goals scored below expectations (4.27). In relation to Deniz Gül, Moffi has superior numbers in key passes (6) and in averages such as successful dribbles (0.23), touches on the ball (13) and in the opposite area (2.77), and in ball recoveries (0.92) per game. Still, it is always far from Samu's performance in all metrics under analysis. What about team B? Francesco Farioli will also be able to use the B team of the dragons to try to find alternatives for position 9. If this happens, there is one name that immediately comes to mind: Leonardo Vonic. The team's top scorer in the II League, with four goals in 18 games, the young international for Germany (under-19) and Croatia (under-20) is currently the striker in the best position to move up a step in the Porto hierarchy. Signed in the middle of last season from Rot-Weiss Essen, in the third tier of German football, Vonic is a powerful and versatile striker, capable of integrating into the formation and following up offensive moves well. Last weekend he scored twice in the 3-1 victory against Académico de Viseu. Since arriving at Olival, he scored 11 goals in 30 games, quickly becoming one of the faces of the improvements shown by the team led by João Brandão from the second half of the last season. At 22 years old, Vonic's football demands other stages, but he still needs to play in the League. He has a contract until 2028 with FC Porto, with a release clause of 15 million euros.
