With less than two weeks of the 2022 summer transfer window left, David Moyes has almost finished building his West Ham squad for the season. Following the Hammers’ recent 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest away at The City Ground, it was reported that Moyes was hoping to complete three or four more transfers before the end of August; three days later, PSG’s Thilo Kehrer was announced as the club’s sixth summer signing in a deal worth £10.1m (plus add-ons).
At face value, signing a 25 year-old German international who has made 128 appearances for PSG over the past four seasons looks to be a real coup for the East London outfit, particularly when you factor in the relatively low fee. With this in mind, it is no surprise that his arrival has excited large swathes of the Hammers faithful, and with Nayef Aguerd and Craig Dawson out injured, Kehrer’s arrival couldn’t have come soon enough. This article will take a closer look at the player that PSG signed from Schalke for £33.3m back in 2018, analysing his playing style, the strengths and weaknesses of his game, and taking a look at how he might fit into Moyes’ system – all to cast a judgement on whether or not the excitement surrounding his arrival is justified.
Before getting stuck into the performance data though, it is worth noting Kehrer’s versatility, which is a valuable trait in its own right. Two things have become clear during Moyes’ second stint at the London Stadium, that he likes to operate with a smaller squad and, as a result, he likes to sign players who can perform in multiple positions. In this respect, it is hardly surprising that Kehrer, a player who has proven himself to be an equally capable right-back and right-sided centre-back during his time at PSG, managed to find his way onto Moyes and Newman’s shortlist. Given that West Ham will be planning to compete on four fronts in 2022-23, bringing in a player that can play in two positions will surely prove to be valuable as it will allow Moyes to rotate the squad more regularly, manage minutes, and navigate any potential injury crises in a jam-packed season.
Stylistically, Kehrer is probably best described as a modern-day “stopper”, a front-footed centre-back who prefers to step out of the defensive line and stop opposition attacks at source, rather than soaking up pressure and carrying out last-ditch blocks, tackles, and clearances. This trait is reflected in the data, with Kehrer committing 11.6 pressures per 90 (81st percentile), considerably more than any of his potential centre-back partners at West Ham (Aguerd = 6.4; Dawson = 5.8; Zouma = 4.9; Ogbonna = 4.9), all of whom rank in the bottom 20% of centre-backs in Europe’s top five leagues. Pressing is pointless, however, if you are not good at it, but Kehrer’s 37% success in pressing duels makes him the most effective presser amongst West Ham’s current crop of centre-backs too. Interestingly, Kehrer’s 4.3 successful pressures per 90 track very similarly to Southampton’s Mohammed Salisu (4.6), a defender who we have previously praised for his front-footedness, and who we expect to develop into one of Europe’s most sought-after central defenders in the next five years.
Whilst pressing is clearly a strength of Kehrer’s game, it does raise questions around his suitability in a Moyes’ system, as “front-footed” is not a term you would use to describe West Ham’s approach to defending over the last few seasons. As touched upon briefly above, the Hammers have often set up in a low or mid-block, taking up a narrow, rigid shape that ushers opposition attackers out wide while they defend the box. This is where a couple of red flags are raised, as Kehrer’s raw defensive numbers do not make for particularly impressive viewing. The first concern is that last season there were only three centre-backs in Ligue 1 who were less successful than Kehrer in defensive duels, and his success rate of 55.4% is almost 8% worse than West Ham’s lowest performer, Angelo Ogbonna (63.3%). When the ball is in the air, Kehrer is even less effective, winning just 47.5% of his aerial duels, almost 20% less than Aguerd managed in Ligue 1.
Luckily for Kehrer, PSG have very little defending to do in France, and their high line and general superiority suited him to a tee. In his defence though, whilst his success rate in defensive duels is pretty poor, his athleticism and positional awareness on the right-hand side allow him to jockey his opponent until the threat is sufficiently minimised. One game in particular where this stood out was against Liverpool in the 2018-19 Champions League group stage, when a then 22 year-old Kehrer managed to keep a free-scoring Sadio Mané quiet.
Still, Moyes signing a centre-back who has underperformed so dramatically in two defensive fundamentals is surprising to say the least, especially when you consider how important aerial dominance has been in West Ham’s recent recruitment. Surprising though it may be, it could be indicative of a stylistic shift away from their current, passive defensive approach. If this is the case then West Ham fans have every reason to be excited, particularly about the prospect of a Kehrer-Aguerd partnership. In a previous article, we discussed Aguerd’s impressive spatial awareness and reading of the game, a skill that allows him to anticipate danger and cover space effectively. In this sense, Aguerd’s skillset should complement Kehrer’s style of play, with the Moroccan international possessing the ability to step across and cover the space that opens up behind the former-PSG defender when he steps out to press an opposition attacker. Collectively, the pair possess strong positional awareness and impressive recovery speed which, when coupled with Kehrer’s combative nature, should allow West Ham to play a higher line, maintain pressure, and control the game a little better against inferior opposition (something we spoke about on the most recent podcast).
One final reason for West Ham fans to be excited about this potential partnership is that Kehrer, much like Aguerd, is extremely impressive on the ball. Whilst the German international might have ranked amongst the worst defenders in Ligue 1 in terms of defensive duel success, he was the second most accurate passer (95.7%), and forward passer (94.2%), of all centre-backs in the league, second only to his PSG teammate, Presnel Kimpembe (96.9%; 94.7%), with Aguerd ranking 14th (91.8%; 85.4%). Before the transfer window opened, the thought of having just one bona fide ball-playing centre-back at the club would have seemed a novelty to most Hammers, two a fantasy, but with Aguerd and Kehrer at the club it is very much a reality. The significance of having centre-backs that are comfortable in possession cannot be understated for West Ham, a side that have often struggled to build from the back, with the onus falling heavily on the shoulders of an ageing Aaron Cresswell. In Aguerd and Kehrer, West Ham now have both a right-footed and a left-footed ball-playing centre-back with their best years ahead of them, a balance that should further increase their ability to control possession a little better and might go some way to remedying the dysfunction they have so far experienced on their right flank in 2022-23.
All things considered, Kehrer’s arrival is an interesting one. Sure, there are some rather alarming weaknesses in the data, and it is particularly unclear how he would function in a low block, but if Moyes is able to utilise him effectively and continue to make West Ham more comfortable in possession, then there is every reason for Hammers fans to be excited. Whichever way you look at it, signing a 25 year-old international who featured regularly for PSG, and for £20m less than they paid for him, will always feel like a good deal. And, if Kehrer can reach the heights that he was expected to back in 2018, then he could genuinely become one of the bargains of the summer.
