Scouting: Ibrahim Sangare

Ibrahim Sangare is a 22 year old defensive midfielder playing for bottom of Ligue 1 side Toulouse. What with the french president Edouard Phillipe coming out and announcing an end to the league season in France due to the coronavirus outbreak, the standings currently mean that Toulouse are to be relegated to Ligue 2 for the following season. Having been given his first minutes in the 2016/17 season for the southern french side, he has been a mainstay in their side since the 2017/18 season. Ibrahim has managed over 2,000 league minutes this season, he has featured the 2nd most in Toulouse's side.

Having never averaged below a 70% pass accuracy following the 17/18 season, the ivorian is currently averaging a 78.7% pass accuracy from nearly 51 passes per 90 minutes. Astonishing numbers for a player that is plying his trade with a bottom of the league side, and when you include Sangare's 3.6 long balls per 90 minutes, you wonder why a bigger club isn't sniffing around. Sangare is able to truly able to dictate play from deep, with a mean 1.1 key passes per 90, which is quantified from a key that leads to a goalscoring opportunity, not too far from Manchester City's Bernardo Silva, who manages 1.3 key passes per game whilst playing much further up the pitch and in a much more attacking side. May it also be noted that Sangare completes 1.2 dribbles per game, the same as Liverpool's Naby Keita and Gini Wijnaldum and 0.1 higher than Alex Oxlade Chamberlain.

He definitely doesn't shirk his defensive responsibilities, averaging a monster 3.4 tackles and 1.6 interceptions per 90 totalling, 5 defensive contributions per game, not including clearances. By comparison, Leicester's Wilfried Ndidi is making a monstrous 4 tackles and 2.7 interceptions per game, totalling 6.7 defensive actions per game, again not including clearances. He's got some improvement to make if he wants to match the nigerian, but 5 defensive actions per 90 minutes are elite defensive midfield statistics.

There is a lot of skepticism when purchasing a player from a relegated side, in regards to his performances and his motivation post relegation but there can be no doubt that Sangare deserves a move to a side where his qualities are valued. Where could the ivorian go to up his game?

With a lot of rumours surrounding West Ham's Declan Rice, with Chelsea and Manchester United circling, The Hammers could do a lot worse than signing Ibrahim. He is a slight downgrade on the englishman, with 0.1 lower defensive actions per game, less dribbles and a lower pass accuracy, but were West Ham to steal Rice's market value of £44m, Ibrahim Sangare would be a snippet at £8.5m, per Transfermarkt. This would allow the London side to spend money elsewhere on the squad.

Alternatively, an option could be to go to Leicester and replace the afore mentioned Ndidi. Having seen Leicester succeed with defensive midfielders N'golo Kante and now Ndidi, Sangare could be next. With Manchester United also interested in the nigerian, Ibrahim would be joining a young and exciting midfield containing the likes of Youri Tielemans and James Maddison. The ivorian would provide the perfect cover to allow the belgian and the englishman to prosper further up the pitch and demonstrate their quality.

Another interesting option could be a transfer to another midlands club in Wolves. With Joao Moutinho now 34, he is still showing immense quality but he doesn't have long left. Moutinho and Sangare are different moulds of midfielders but with Ruben Neves' statistics taking a downturn since the championship winning 17/18 season, Sangare would allow the cover needed for Neves to push up the pitch in an attempt to rediscover the form from previous seasons. And he wouldn't cost an arm and a leg either.

There's always the option of remaining in France too. With Lyon's capture of Thiago Mendes, Lille promoted Boubakary Soumare to the defensive midfield position in which he has prospered this season and is now linked with some of Europe's elite clubs. Sangare would be a smart acquisition for Lille were Soumare to be sold. There would then be the ambition to challenge for european football, with Lille currently occupying a Europa League spot but only 1 point behind Champions League qualification.

Maybe staying in native France is best for the ivorian, but with only an £8.5m valuation and some truly outragous stats, he's sure to leave doomed Toulouse very soon.