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What will new Luton Town signing Cody Drameh bring to Kenilworth Road?
Luton Town have welcomed Leeds United full-back Cody Drameh to Kenilworth Road on loan for what remains of this Championship campaign.
The 21-year-old, who spent the second half of last season on a temporary spell with Cardiff City, has arrived to be James Bree’s replacement as he heads for pastures new at Southampton.
From a brief glance at Drameh and how he performed whilst on loan at Cardiff, it is clear that he represents a different kind of wing-back option to the 25-year-old. Similar in profile to Alfie Doughty perhaps, in an attacking sense, Drameh’s pace, direct running and confidence when carrying the ball makes him someone who will seemingly fit what Rob Edwards desires from the wide position.
Casting eyes back to what we saw from an Edwards-led side when they marched to the League Two title last time out, Nicky Cadden and Kane Wilson, who earned themselves moves to Barnsley and Bristol City respectively, were deployed high up the pitch and were individuals that looked to get in behind opposing defences.
As for Bree, he is slightly more reserved from open play in an attacking capacity and his creativity is generated by an excellent passing and crossing ability. Under Edwards, naturally, the 25-year-old has begun in higher starting positions, as seen when he won a free-kick against Wigan Athletic last weekend when he combined with Elijah Adebayo.
Whilst this has not been too common of a feature of Bree’s game, you would expect that this will be second nature to the Leeds loanee.
To better assess what Hatters fans can expect of the young wing-back, here, we take a look at Drameh’s data from the 21/22 campaign…
The first thing of note, when looking more at the attacking side of his game is that he ranked in the top 12% of Championship full-backs for dribbles per 90 last time out, with his progressive runs per 90 in the 58th percentile, further proving that earlier point that he will look to drive forward with the ball and attack his opponent. He was also in the top 20% of Championship full-backs when it comes to the success rate of his dribbling, showing not only that he has a willingness to get at his man, but he is also very good at it.
Interestingly, he ranked within the top 20% and 25% for offensive duels per 90 and the percentage of defensive duels he won last season, showing that in an attacking capacity, he is brave and will be direct in his approach.
In the 80th percentile for crosses per 90 too, his ability to get past defenders and into crossing positions makes for exciting viewing for the Hatters.
Not only providing satisfying numbers from an offensive perspective, the data also reads well from a defensive standpoint.
Ranking in the 87th percentile for successful defensive actions per 90 and also in the same percentile for his defensive duels won, he is someone that will continue to provide protection to Luton’s back three.
Where Drameh ranked in the lower percentiles was his passing metrics, however, when causing havoc by driving at defences with pace and attacking endeavour, who needs to pass the ball?
As expected when looking at Bree’s data from the 21/22 campaign, he returns more positive data in passing and crossing related metrics.
Within the top 5% of Championship full-backs/wing-backs last season when it comes to accurate crosses, he is also in the 80th percentile for crosses per 90. He also ranked high in his progressive passes per 90 and the accuracy of those progress passes.
An immediate comparison between the two will tell you that both players represent a different kind of wing-back options, with this notion of Bree being a deeper creator of chances certainly being displayed.
Of course, a limitation of this is that this data is from last season, with Drameh not playing enough during the 2022/23 campaign to fully assess his contributions, whilst Bree’s data would be impacted by the fact that a lot of his minutes has come as a right-sided centre-back.