Javi Guerra: The elegant, gifted Spanish midfielder tracked by all the European giants

Valencia’s Javi Guerra burst onto the scene last season and has come on leaps and bounds since. Real Madrid, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Newcastle and Tottenham are just some of the big clubs interested in Guerra.

Javi Guerra is an elegant yet powerful midfielder. Oozes class & composure on the ball & has the power and stamina to travel box-to-box all game covering a high amount of ground and being effective in all phases. At 6ft 2in, Guerra has a real presence but it’s his technique that’s most impressive.

Guerra exploded onto the scene for Valencia last season when he was the club’s hero, scoring a 93^rd minute winner vs Real Valladolid in a relegation clash towards the end of the season. That goal, his first for Valencia, contributed in keeping them up and sending Valladolid down

With Guerra being a rangy Spanish midfielder who’s 6ft 2in, people’s lazy comparisons would be to Busquets, or the fact he’s called Javi could make them think of Javi Martínez. But in actual fact he’s much more mobile than both of them. A true athlete.

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Guerra is such a strong ball-carrier. Despite his lanky frame, he has quick feet and is a good dribbler in tight spaces. He is smooth in the way he carries the ball. He just glides past the opposing midfield in style, often using ball rolls or acute movements like flicks to turn past them.

Guerra has 1.79 progressive carries, 2.87 take-ons attempted (top 15%) and 1.46 successful take-ons (top 14%). He adds verticality to Valencia’s midfield through his ability to powerfully drive up-field and take on players to help Valencia enter the final third.

One of Guerra’s most impressive abilities is his long-range shooting. On both his right and left foot he has scored some top-quality goals with great precision and power. His long legs allow him to generate more power when striking the ball. Along with this ability, Guerra also has a good shot volume of 1.46 shots per 90 and 0.58 of these on target.

This is a decent amount of shots but could be better, especially for someone of his shooting ability. However, it’s important to bear in mind he’s playing for a team in Valencia where they don’t tend to have a lot of the ball and his role is more to progress the ball through his carrying and long passing.

The issue here is that he’s often on the ball in deeper position. In the long-term this will make him a more complete player, however, short-term, it doesn’t allow him to have the ball in the areas where he shines most, inside and on the edge of the box.

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As a Spanish midfielder it’s not a surprise to see how good Guerra’s passing ability is. Particularly his long passing, Guerra has a good technique on clipped passes and crosses. When wide or in the half-spaces he can be a source of quality crosses to create chances.

Guerra has good positioning as he often is in the right place out of position to provide a mid-block or anticipate passes but specifically when tackling. He doesn’t go to ground often because he’s usually positioned well and doesn’t need to. But when he does, he times his tackles well.

With 1.96 tackles and 0.67 interceptions he’s quite active defensively as a no.8 and has definitely improved on his defensive aspects of his game this season. Physically Guerra is strong in duels too especially as he’s got such a tall frame. He does lack aggression and intensity in duels though, he’s almost too nice off the ball at times. As he develops this, he’ll be even better defensively.

One area where I’d love to see Guerra improve is to become more of a box-crashing number 8. This could be down to coaching instructions, but he does get in the box. He’s dangerous in the final third and shooting from distance with good finishing ability too.

If Guerra entered the box more, he could get a lot more goals. Even this season he has four goals in 31 games. Whenever he’s arrived in the box, he’s been a threat, he simply just needs the licence to do it more. Look at Jude Bellingham last season compared to this season. An increased licence to crash the box has enabled him to focus on that area where he shines, this is what would be good to see with Guerra.

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After an impressive end to the season last season, Guerra was given the number 8 shirt this term as Valencia look to build their team around him. He plays in a midfield three with new signing Pepelu as the defensive-midfielder, him as the box-to-box no.8 and André Almeida as the attacking-midfielder.

Guerra is a calm, composed player in both his personality and play-style. This level-headedness and composure enables him to have good decision-making on the pitch. Hopefully this translates off the pitch and he gets the timing and the destination of his next move right.

There are a lot of teams looking for a new number 8, they should certainly join the queue of clubs tracking Guerra. Serious player, Serious potential.

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