Don't see anything wrong with that. He offers no build up (which is an extreme exaggeration in itself), but that is... well what we're used to for a few years now... Icardi would definitely add a threat in the area 'though. And a team can have more than one go-to-guy, you know...
I'm against Icardi but I'd think the combination would work for sure. As if Ronaldo can't co-exist with an out-and-out striker...
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You think Higuain was/is great passer? Yet he was insanely good at Napoli under Sarri...
You might want to look at Icardi's goal stats... Yep, looks like a Sarri player.
It's not just about just passing, but yes. He is, statistically. Higuain is MUCH more comfortable with the ball than Icardi and the numbers show that.
1) Average pass completion is consistently ~10% higher than Icardi. For his entire career, average pass completion is 80.6% vs 72.1%.
2) Icardi attempted on average 17.2 passes per game over his career, so that's 12.4 successful passes per game. Higuain averaged 25.5, and completed 20.5.
3) Icardi attempted on average 0.9 dribbles, and completed 0.4. Higuain averaged 2.8 attempts and completed 1.4.
He completes nearly twice the passes, and completes >3x the dribbles of Icardi. In terms of involvement in the play, they are on different planets.
You can bash Higuain on his weight all you want, but the fact is he was always a striker that was very involved in the play. He was trequartista in his youth, and is very comfortable on the ball. Icardi doesn't thrive on having the ball. He is a heck of finisher, but he is a poacher. Higuain has always been a complete striker - and we saw that with Juve...
I'm going to dig out a heat map too.