2018 Fulham Player Reviews: Lucas Piazon

Basic Stats: 23 appearances | 14 starts | 9 substitutions | 1,083 minutes | 5 goals | 4 assists

Economics: Year-Long Loan from Chelsea | Signed: 2017 | Contract Ends in Summer 2018

Stats by Seven-Game sequences

WhoScored Rating Chart

Radar

Goals vs. Expected Goals

Transfermarket Value Chart

CC Thoughts: If only Lucas Piazon didn’t fracture his leg away to Leeds United. The two-time Chelsea-to-Fulham loanee was becoming a real standout regular for the club, especially after scoring the lone goal in the draw against Reading while being down to ten men. Instead, the now 24-year-old had a bit of a wasted season and is running out of chances to make a name for himself in European football.

His 1,184 league minutes were the lowest he’s played in since his Eintracht Frankfurt season in 2014/15 (in which he recorded 1,055 and just 2 goals). That being said, Piazon was a major contributor once he returned to full fitness with his goal and assist performance against Burton at home being his most standout performance. However, there just wasn’t enough consistency to Piazon’s game to make him an out-and-out member of Fulham’s XI the rest of the way.

In the end, he was able to chip in with five goals and four assists with his combined attacking output turning out to be a career-high at 0.68 per 90 minutes. But as you can see with Ben Mayhew’s actual vs. expected goals chart, Piazon’s 25.0% goal-conversion rate was unsustainably high to happen again in future campaigns. Unlike Ryan Sessegnon, who relies heavily on shots inside the penalty area, Piazon actually had more shots outside the box (10) than in (8) out of his 20 total tries in Championship play for 2017/18. Along with that, his 2.81 combined shots and created chances per 90 minutes is the lowest of his career since that same Eintracht Frankfurt season.

So while Piazon has had a horrid 2017/18, that doesn’t deny that he was a key piece to Fulham in their success of Premier League promotion. You also can’t deny how much his long-term injury dampened any early season momentum that he could have to round his game into form. But whether or not his style of play change for Piazon to be able to repeat his offensive production in the future is a story that will have to wait and see.

Key Stat: 50.0% dribbling success rate. For the first time in Piazon’s career, the amount of successful dribbles (21) were as much as the numbers of times he was dispossessed (21). This also more than surpasses his career dribbling success rate of 32.6% in senior team league play.

Your thoughts: So what say you? Once Chelsea can get their ducks in a row, do you envision Piazon coming back to Fulham? If so, will it be on a permanent contract and for how much? Along with that, how much playing time should Piazon get if he were to stay with the club? Don’t be shy to leave your comments below.