xG, player comparisons and positioning: A closer look at incoming Sheffield Wednesday signing Alessio Da Cruz

The 23-year-old former Holland youth international, who was reportedly of interest to Arsenal scouts two years ago, is available having had his loan spell at Italian Serie B side Ascoli cut short, in turn prompting an explosive statement from the club’s owner about his off-field reputation.

But what does Da Cruz offer on the field, in what position is he most effective and what style of play does he emulate?

Well, in short, he’s most adept at playing across the front three, with 40 per cent of his career appearances to date having come off the left-wing, 29 per cent as a central striker and 22 per cent from the right.

And in terms of goal contributions, he has been most prolific down the middle, offering an impressive 19 goal contributions (nine goals, 10 assists) in the 35 matches he’s played there.

A closer look at his statistics across their career reinforce the notion that Da Cruz is more Kadeem Harris in style than Steven Fletcher – Da Cruz’s dribble success rate of 56.9 is identical to that of Harris – though a heat map of his efforts show he is more likely to look for space in central positions than the more wing-based Owls winger.

His more central role means he offers more touches in the box – 4.09 per match – than even Fletcher’s 3.29.

His career xG rating of 0.18 is marginally superior to that of Harris at 0.11, with the gap of Da Cruz’s impressive 0.25 xG for this season widening on Harris’ 0.13.

This is in an inferior league, however, with Smartscout calculating the step-up from Serie B to the Championship at 11 per cent compared to the two per cent gap with that of the 2.Bundesliga as per Owls About Stat guru Peter Løhmann.

Owls boss Garry Monk will be hoping the Dutchman provides his attack with the spark they need to get their promotion charge back on track.