Never a fan of signing a player just for the sake of him being physical. Never liked Paulinho or Vidal really on paper, even though Vidal in particular, was good individually as a player. Always stuck out by disrupting our passing rhythm.
And this is why I am very much okay with Saul. His physical merits are there, we lack his profile in the squad currently in but there are things I like technically in his game now that I would rate higher than say a Paulinho, Vidal or Gomes.
I think he would offer something in the ballpark of what Rakitic did: while I think Raki is obviously a better shooter and a slightly better passer, I think Saul physically overall is better (stronger, faster, more imposing) and is better in tight spaces than Raki. He is decently press-resistant, his ball control is good for a player of his usual profile, and I think that is going to help with his adaptation here. Simeone was always forcing him into wide positions and that is why he started to diminish over time so especially in a box-to-box role here, I think he will be more comfortable.
Only real negative I see is how this could impact Ilaix. He could see this arrival as a massive barrier to his development. But all and all, I see more that I like about Saul here than I dislike. Koeman felt he needed a player like this, irrespective of if I agree with that or not, Saul does allow Koeman to use different midfield combinations and is something truly different in comparison to someone like Pjanic, who is more of the same. He is good complement to someone like Frenkie, for example.
Compared to other players we could have ended up like Gini, this is decent and could be a lot worse.
