How does the Atletico midfielder compare to his Premier League rivals?

If we believe the information, Saul Niguez could be on his way to the Premier League this summer.

The star of Atletico Madrid has been a mainstay of Diego Simeone's team in recent seasons, but the club's fierce fight to break the duopoly of La Liga means that it's hard to keep his best players.

Saul certainly corresponds to this description. The 24-year-old has shown maturity beyond his years in the Atletico midfield since joining the team as a teenager.

These performances have not escaped the attentions of Manchester United and Manchester City, according to ESPN. In fact, it is likely that all the "big six" of the Premier League admire at least Saul from afar.

In this spirit, it is worth comparing Saul to his counterparts in the Premier League. However, Saul is a midfielder hard to pin down. It is versatile: we expect to win duels, start and be involved in attacks, to go back up and dictate the tempo occasionally. In simple terms, it has the potential to play anywhere in the midfield.

From this point of view, we can compare Saul to a group of varied backgrounds. Below, we will explain why we compared Saul's statistics to selected players and badyze the comparison between the Spaniard and his counterparts.

Fernandinho (Man City)

According to the ESPN report, Manchester City has identified Rodri, Saul's teammate for Atletico, as Fernandinho's long-term substitute. While Guardiola considers that Saul is a player capable of adapting to many roles in the midfield, Rodri would be better able to replace Fernandinho one day.

That said, if City managed to attract Saul to Etihad, he would probably play the role that Fernandinho currently holds before the last four.

A defensive attitude is necessary in this role, which Saul can provide. He has won 7,57 duels per 90-minute league this season, which is better than Fernandinho's 6.52. He also won more tackles by 90 (1.69) than Fernandinho (1.62), but the Brazilian wins with interceptions, 1.58 by 90 against 1.18 for Saul.

Without Fernandinho, City is a worse team, but Saul – though not being a true copy of favorite Etihad – clearly has the merit of playing in the role of central defensive midfielder if it is necessary if Guardiola showed up to him this summer.

Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool)

Liverpool attempted to solve its central midfield problem by spending a large part of its transfer budget on Naby Keita and Fabinho. Although the duo has a lot of potential, Jurgen Klopp has often stuck with Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum.

Indeed, Wijnaldum plays a similar role to Saul; not constantly sitting as a deep midfielder like Henderson, but instead of starting in deep positions and going forward with the ball. For this reason, Liverpool could even be the best solution if Saul joined a Premier League club.

Wijnaldum averaged a full dribble by 90 minutes of league; Saul borders him with 1.1. Wijnaldum is more creative and creates 0.83 chances between a game opened by 90 and 0.51 for Saul. But 0.67 shots of Saul beat those of Wijnaldum, 0.35.

Saul also wins more duels than Wijnaldum 4.32 and would almost certainly prove an improvement for Liverpool.

Moussa Sissoko (Tottenham)

Moussa Sissoko has been a revelation in the Tottenham midfielder this season, proving to be the end-to-end runner that produces Mauricio Pochettino's diamond work.

This is perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that he completes more dribbling by 90 minutes of league (1.29) than all the circles mentioned in this article, including Saul. However, the total absence of threat against Sissoko's goal is what makes him weaken as a player capable of scoring goals.

He rarely gets the most out of his ability to outsmart his opponents and into promising areas. In the recent Tottenham defeat at Liverpool, he did not open his account for the season with a huge chance. The Frenchman managed only 0.13 shots in the 90 minutes this season, while Saul tried 0.67, scoring four goals.

The Spurs do not require Sissoko to be a threat to the goal, but his tackles and interceptions are also lagging behind Saul – perhaps more proof that Sissoko is a good midfielder with a great season, rather than an elite player.

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Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal)

While Ramsey will join Juventus this summer, Arsenal is about to lose a midfielder who can do it all. In this sense, he looks a lot like Saul; both players could probably adapt to any midfielder role.

Ramsey however imposes in some areas. He has provided six league badists this season at Saul's and has created 1.63 chances every 90 minutes, well over .51 for Saul.

Saul is also a surprisingly inaccurate smuggler. Its precision rate is only 76.91%, which is lower than that of all the midfields we are looking at, including Ramsey (81.4%). This could have something to do with Atletico's style of play, which is not particularly based on controlled possession.

Arsenal may be looking for a player whose default position is more advanced than Saul's, but his adaptability is no different from that of Ramsey, which makes it possible to compare the apt couple.

N'Golo Kante (Chelsea)

Much has been said and written about Kante's position in the Chelsea team under the direction of Maurizio Sarri. Some see Kante as the ideal defensive midfielder, but he shot beautifully slightly to the right after being allowed to advance as far as possible.

Once again, this is a position that Saul could reach. If Chelsea pursued Saul, Kante and he could create a midfield partnership – although we do not know where that would leave Jorginho, provided that Sarri is still in charge of the next term.

Kante was much more inventive than Saul that term, creating 1.3 chances between a league open match of 90 minutes and Saul's 0.51. The French also made more interceptions by 90 (1.2) but earned fewer tackles (1.17).

Saul might add a little more power than Kante, but he compensates for the tenacity of Kante's lack of size and stature.

Ander Herrera (Manchester United)

By all accounts, Manchester United is looking for a player to badociate with Paul Pogba in the middle of the midfield next season, and Saul is considered the ideal candidate.

In this spirit, Saul would probably replace Ander Herrera, who is about to leave the club for a free transfer. United would get an upgrade from Herrera with Saul, who can provide everything Herrera can and a little more, mainly as an attacker.

That said, Herrera is the only player on our list to have recorded more tackles by 90 minutes of this season's championship (1.76) compared to Saul. He is also Saul's closest player at the Fernandinho Bar, with respect to winning matches (5.64).

An imposing midfielder, Saul, Pogba and Nemanja Matic, is surely an enticing prospect for United. Their declared interest in Saul makes perfect sense.