Rangers have shown their interest in Derby County captain, Tom Lawrence. The former Manchester United player made the switch to the Rams in 2017 after being sold to Leicester City in 2014. Derby County were relegated from the EFL Championship last season and will play in the EFL League One next season. The 28-year-old Welshman might look for more opportunities in the future and could be on the move away from Derby County following their troubles. He is available on a free deal, and the Scottish Premiership club could benefit from this deal.
Lawrence made 38 appearances for the Rams in the EFL Championship 2021/22 season. He scored 11 goals and was the top scorer for his side. The above viz shows the pass start location and the threat created from passes at different time intervals during the match. Lawrence provided five assists and created more threats from the right side. By looking at the pass start location map, we can observe that the player showed versatility on the pitch by attempting passes from every possible area in the opposition’s final third. Wayne Rooney played his captain as a striker, as a number ten, as a left-forward and as a right-forward. Lawrence was the creative force for his side and created constant trouble in the last 30 minutes of the game.
When looking at the above chart, the general rule is that the longer the bar, the better the performance — you can see the league average in the middle, and the % is the percentile rank the player is in. Lawrence averaged 29 passes per 90 minutes with a high accuracy rate of 83.79%. The forward had a high percentile rank for attempting passes into the attacking third and shot assists per 90 minutes. The above chart clearly shows that Lawrence was one of the best creative players amongst forwards in the league.
With an average of 2.28 shots per 90 minutes, the Welshman attempted 91 shots in the league. He managed to hit the target 36 times and convert 11 opportunities. Of these 11 goals, four were scored from the penalty spot. Lawrence scored ten goals from inside the opposition’s penalty box, as shown in the above shot map. The shot map also shows that he was quite accurate with his shots from inside the penalty box.
Rangers are looking to add creativity to their team by showing an interest in Lawrence. Aribo is also on the wishlist of a few clubs, and the Scottish Premiership side have the fear of losing their star player in the summer. Tom Lawrence brings a lot of creativity with him to the side and was the top performer for Derby County last season in the EFL Championship. The Welshman could turn out to be the replacement for Aribo too. He can score goals and also lead the line, as Aribo did in the last few matches for Rangers last season. A move to Rangers could also add more experience to Lawrence’s game before the World Cup. He could be a great signing for Rangers in their quest to win the Scottish Premiership title.
