Saúl Ñíguez (25 years old) is a fundamental piece in Simeone's schemes. The ilicitano, formed in the quarry of the rojiblanco club and who he's been in the first team for six seasons, has become essential and is the boy for everything of Cholo. Proof of his weight on the team is that He is the second player to score the most goals in the league championship (six), tied with João Félix and only behind Morata (12).. It surpasses players who perform closer to the rival area, such as Correa or Diego Costa. In a team so lacking a goal, their scoring contribution has been key to achieving the goal of qualify for the Champions for the eighth consecutive season.
The midfielder has played 46 matches between all competitions this season (35 of them in LaLiga). Add 4156 minutes and he still has at least one game to play (the Champions League quarterfinal against Leipzig). He is the second member of the squad who has spent the longest time on the pitch, second only to Oblak (4356 ’). One aspect that makes Saul special is his polyvalence and is that, in addition to being able to play in any position in the midfield, he has even been a left back at some points of the season as a replacement for Lodi and it can also be developed with ease in the center of the rear (during his transfer to Rayo before he joined the first mattress team definitively, his usual position was that).
Saúl has demonstrated since he was under Simeone's command that, beyond his dedication and deployment, He is a player with a great arrival at the opposite goal. In the six campaigns he has in the first team has added a total of 41 goals and 18 assists, what gives an average of almost seven goals and three final passes per season. This course exactly meets the figure of the targets (he has six in LaLiga and one in the Champions League), although he has not given any assistance so far. His most prolific scoring season is shared between the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons., in which he marked nine goals in each of them (four in the League, three in the Champions and two in the Cup in the first and four in the League, four in the Champions and one in the Cup in the second).
One aspect to highlight and that shows Saúl's confidence in himself is that this year has become one of the team's penalty shooters, being in charge of doing it twice in a momentous game such as the mattress's visit to the Camp Nou on matchday 33, scoring the two pitches and helping his team add a vital point (2-2).