Joe Pigott has emerged as a potential target for Sheffield Wednesday as they search a solution to their lack of goals last season, as reported by the Mirror (15/07 14:49 pm)

The former Maidstone man played a key role in keeping AFC Wimbledon in League One and was earlier linked with a move to Reading. Whilst goals almost certainly win games, does the 25-year-old have what it takes to step up to the Championship?

If he does, is he the right man for Sheffield Wednesday? We shine a spotlight on his stats to find out.

 

Piggot played 48 times for Wimbledon in a long and often bruising season for them. It started badly, they struggled near the foot of the table and Neal Ardley paid for their failings with his job. Wally Downes replaced him, but by that point the Wombles were a long way adrift at the bottom.

Pigott was amongst the goals from the off, scoring six before October. He ended up with 18 across all competitions, making him as close to the fabled '20-a-season' man as you can get. In a team often on the wrong end of results against sides with much bigger budgets, his return was impressive.

Being a striker isn't all about goals though. Would he be playing a sole striker role, or become part of a partnership? That's unclear with the Owls at the moment, Steve Bruce liked a flat 4-4-2 during his tenure, Jos Luhukay preferring a 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-3-1. Whilst it's impossible to know how Pigott might be deployed, we can still glean something from his numbers.

For instance, 36.7% of his shots were on target. It's not a bad number, but there is scope for improvement. Often, he was the only real point of attack for Wimbledon and that number might have been affected by a need to shoot rather than being able to take other options. In terms of passing he had a decent accuracy rate, 72.5% of his balls found a teammate.

Another stat which points more to how Wimbledon used him than anything is the number of aerial duels he contested per game He was involved in 16.36 headed duels, a huge amount and a sure-fire pointer to the long ball game his side favoured. Pigott was asked to lead the line, get onto big balls forward and make of them what he could.

Despite that, he managed just 3.66 touches per game in the box, so often someone else was seemingly expected to get around him and on to flick ons. In fairness to Pigott, reaping 18 goals after being played very much as a target man is a good return.

He could certainly lead the line in a 4-2-3-1 formation, as well as play the 'big man' in a 4-4-2. There would be far less emphasis on the big balls in the Championship though and he might find that some of his other attributes get called upon.

He's certainly worth a chance though, for his work rate and goal return alone.