Player Focus: Sevilla Success Puts Bacca in Contention for Columbia

With more goals than both Gareth Bale and Neymar - and at a fraction of the price - it’s becoming more and more apparent that Sevilla’s €8m spend on Carlos Bacca has been a fine piece of business, akin to those the club made in the early 2000’s.

In fact, Bacca’s impact has been so significant he’s outmuscled a whole raft of Sevilla strikers from down the years when it comes to scoring in a debut La Liga season. Toni Polster and Ivan Zamorano managed 9 goals, Davor Suker netted 6, while more recently Frédéric Kanouté and Luis Fabiano grabbed just 6 and 5 respectively. Bacca, meanwhile, sits top of the pile with 11 thus far in the current campaign.

There has always been a feeling in and around Sevilla that the club could cope with high-profile departures, no matter how many, if they acted astutely in the market. More often than not they haven’t. Instead the vast sums pumped into the club from the likes of Dani Alves departing have been squandered on low-trajectory talent, usually signed on the back of ill-informed scouting and rash judgements.

Álvaro Negredo’s departure was always going to be felt, no matter how intelligently Sevilla reacted to it. Fortunately, they have encountered the best possible scenario to compensate. Instead of buying one replacement, they bought two - Kévin Gameiro arrived and so did Bacca. Initially the Frenchman started the better, appearing more at ease with the tempo of Spanish football and, decisively, combining with his teammates in a more efficient manner. For Bacca, perhaps Unai Emery didn’t quite know how to use him.

Intriguingly Emery perhaps still isn’t quite sure when it comes to the Colombian. Is he a target man, or is he a runner in behind? Maybe he can be used out on the wing too? Emery’s penchant so far has been to use Bacca as the former and ping balls up in his direction, in hope that Ivan Rakitic arrives sooner or later to take it from there.

To his credit Bacca has weighed in with 5 assists, impressive given when he arrived from Club Brugge in the summer a criticism was that he didn’t involve himself enough in team play. More often than not, however, using him as a target man hasn’t worked, and when you view the 11 goals Bacca has scored they bear the hallmarks of a penalty area poacher, relying upon natural striking instincts.

His 2.2 shots per game, second behind only Rakitic at Sevilla, shows he’s always in the mood to unload an effort at goal. The aforementioned Bale and Neymar meanwhile, with 3.0 and 2.6 shots per game respectively, have had less end product despite mustering more attempts on average. Still, looking at Bacca’s 19.6% chance conversion rate, which ranks him 16th amongst the 48 players with 5+ goals in La Liga this season, there is room for improvement.

When at Sevilla Negredo was notoriously trigger happy and in his final season he managed 4.2 shots per game on average. He totalled 25 goals in La Liga, of course, but the argument was that he should’ve scored more in his time at the club given his shot tally. Even now Bacca and Gameiro combined don’t reach that figure, falling short at 3.5 in total.

Despite Emery’s indecisive usage of the player, Bacca’s shown his competency in both the lead and combined roles in attack. It’s the dual role however, that could have greater significance for him this summer when his nation Colombia heads to Brazil. José Néstor Pékerman operates with a fluid and interchangeable attacking line, with Monaco’s James Rodríguez handed chief creative duties. Ahead of that, however, he prefers a duo to combine.

Throughout qualifying in South America, it was Radamel Falcao and Teó Gutiérrez that worked in tandem to devastating effect, with displays against Chile and Uruguay producing 7 goals in Colombia’s favour. Bacca could capitalise on this, though there is incredible competition for a place from the likes of Jackson Martínez, Víctor Ibarbo, Luis Muriel and Adrián Ramos. Bacca got the nod in a recent friendly against Tunisia but failed to impress, with Ramos faring better in a second half display of much greater intensity.

At club level though it’s a pairing that Bacca prefers, perhaps proving his adaptation to the Colombia setup wouldn’t be so difficult. “We want to play together, but the decision is for the coach. We have a good relationship, we support each other, and we complement each other well. Things go well when we play together”, said the Colombian on his partnership with Gameiro. “I feel comfortable starting from the left and Kevin from the right, but really, we have freedom to go where we want.”

In Sevilla’s most recent win, against Almería the pair operated together to devastating effect, netting a goal apiece, plus an assist for Gameiro. In Sevilla’s current three game winning streak in La Liga the pair have scored four of their six goals, emphasising the fact that their influence on the team is as important as that of Rakitic.

There is more combination play too, as shown in the goal against Almería. Bacca, after latching onto a flick from his French strike partner, offered a quick burst of pace before calmly slotting home. The 27-year old showed his strength to hold off a challenge in the build-up to his goal, whilst impressing in the too, winning 75% of his aerial duels.

If there is one thing Bacca could do with developing it’s when to time his runs. Having been caught offside 1.4 times per game on average this season, only Cristiano Ronaldo and Gio Dos Santos have been called up more often in La Liga. Bacca’s eagerness to break away and steal yards on opponents could be tempered with a degree of anticipation to his game. Still, this season can be viewed as a tremendous success for the forward, and much like Sevilla the hope will be that there is progress in the near future.

As for Colombia, competition may be fierce for the starting eleven that gets underway in Brazil, but with a little help from his friends, Bacca is hoping to get there.

How impressed have you been with Carlos Bacca's debut season with Sevilla? Let us know in the comments below