Since arriving in La Rossa at the start of 2019 from boyhood club Vélez Sarsfield, Domínguez's influence at Bologna has grown and grown, reaching a climax in this past season under Thiago Motta's tutelage. The Argentine's technical brilliance and astute reading of the game has made him a vital cog in the Rossoblù machine, attracting interest from Brighton, Nottingham Forest, and Milan just to name a few.
Domínguez's positional heatmap - 2022/23 season
As shown by the heatmap, Domínguez does most of his work in the left half-space, either in a double pivot alongside the since departed Jerdy Schouten, or as a traditional box-to-box 8. Later on in games he is often moved further foward, playing as a 10 or on the left wing. Being able to move across the pitch in-game speaks to his versatility and tactical understanding; being able to cover many positions is also so vital in modern football given just how many games are being played, thus requiring more rotation and more backups in each position.
Standing at around 5'10" with a relatively slight frame, Domínguez is by no means imposing physically, and this is something that certainly shows up when playing opposite bigger midfield profiles that have re-emerged recently in the football 'meta', but it is not always to his disadvantage. Being shorter with a natural low centre of gravity makes Domínguez tricky to handle in congested midfields, his agility and lateral movement is exceptional, allowing him to weave through traffic and also gives him a leverage advantage when receiving with his back to an opposition player.
Unfortunately, Domínguez lacks the springiness and burst we've come to expect from the top tier box-to-box 8's - he is not going to eat up ground and dominate in footraces. These athletic setbacks do not hamper him greatly given his playstyle, but they are worth noting. In the admittedly few times he's caught out of position in transition he does not have the recovery pace to make up ground and put in a challenge.
Domínguez's Passing Metrics - fbref.com
In possession, Domínguez is often at the centre of Bologna's build up play, being their most influential player in the second phase. He loves to play one touch football with his defenders, and while this can lead to some inaccuracies, it is important in maintaining the rhythm of the build up. There is an aura of composure surrounding Domínguez on the ball, he cannot and will not be rushed by opposition pressure, he plays on his time always - in a more dominant side he would easily be averaging around 70 passes a game, very metronomic. When he wants to receive on the half turn and split the lines he is equally impressive as he is in the short game; exceptional vision with confidence playing tricky passes on both feet. His through balls, in particular, are exceptional - it is apparent he has a natural understanding of weighting his passes that you just can't teach.
Receives the ball from his left back, sits nicely on his left and so he attempts a first time through ball despite it being his weaker foot. From here you'd think the simple option would be to play it to Zirkzee who has found himself in a nice pocket of space, but Domínguez is looking to exploit the space in between Napoli's centre half and right back.
Ball arrives perfectly for Barrow to receive in stride, bringing Bologna deep into Napoli's half from what originally seemed like a harmless situation as far as Napoli were concerned, where Domínguez once again shows disruptive, defence-splitting passing ability.
Once again, Domínguez sees space to be exploited behind the Napoli right back and threads a perfect through ball to Cambiaso through a crowd.
Cambiaso then cuts it back to Zirkzee, who scores. This is a goal against the best team in the nation created on the back of Domínguez's line-splitting ability, something the top teams value very highly.
His ability to carve open stacked boxes with smart and accurate passing crops up time and time again, any amount of space given to him will be exploited. It is worth mentioning that he attempts less long passes than average, these balls are not easy switches to an open man and are instead long vertical or diagonals into tight space which are very difficult to pull off, making his seemingly middling completion percentage actually rather impressive. While the ability to pull off these balls is very much impressive, there is one concern I have: if he comes to the premier league as is rumoured, where is much less time and space on the ball, there is a threat that these rather hopeful passes will be completed less and less, eventually just being seen as reckless and wasteful.
Domínguez's on ball metrics - fbref.com
Domínguez, as shown by these metrics, is an efficient dribbler but someone who does not carry the ball all that much. In fact, the only time he'll consistently look to carry and beat his man is when he's surrounded by 2, 3, or even 4 defenders and he wants to create space for a pass - these are not ideal dribbling situations, but his near 64% take-on rate speaks to his smarts and agility, being able to weave in and out of dangerous situations. As impressive as this is, he has most likely reached his ceiling as a dribbler, or at least is very close to it; he just doesn't have the athleticism and stride to be able to carry up-field and eat up ground, nor does he have the quick feet, burst, or skill moves in his arsenal to be able to stand defenders up and beat them one-on-one.
If there was one area where you could potentially expect slight improvement in Domínguez's dribbling it would be in and around the box, creating space for a shooting opportunity. His movement and positioning is so subtle and smart that he is often found in great attacking positions deep down the left half space. This is something that can and should result in a lot more goal involvements but usually he'll lay the ball off to someone outside the area - trying to be too smart with the ball instead of taking initiative himself. If he can just translate his ability to wriggle out of pressure with the ball in midfield to the final 3rd, all of a sudden he'll create a lot more shooting opportunities for himself.
Speaking of shooting opportunities, this is another area of Domínguez's game that is very efficient but leaves a lot to be desired. You get a sense that he's trying to be too elegant and clever on the ball, always looking to place the ball in the right spot, and while this does lead to him being a decently accurate shooter with nearly 40% of his attempts landing on target, there is a lack of venom and conviction in his strikes.
Here he receives the ball in a dream scenario as far as most midfielders are concerned: plenty of space on the edge of the box, very central so he has the whole goal to aim for, ball is sat up nicely with good weight. It is on his weaker left foot, but he has shown before the ability to connect cleanly and with good technique on his left consistently so it is no issue for him.
As he steps in to take the shot there is one glaring issue, he's approached this shot with the same technique as he'd approach a pass. There is no problem using the instep here to really whip the ball across his body to the open side of the Inter goal, but he is leaning back too much, almost with a relaxed posture, aiming to his left - from this frame alone you can tell the shot will have little to no power behind it.
It should come as no surprise that the ball harmlessly falls into the path of Onana, who had barely moved from his starting position. He postured as if he was simply passing the ball to Onana and that is exactly what happened. Now, this one example obviously doesn't tell the whole story and you may be willing to let him off as it's on his weaker foot, but there is a noticeable issue with Domínguez's ball striking. I almost never saw him to get over the ball and connect with the laces in situations like these, which he finds himself in almost every single game. Once his ball striking is cleaned up expect the goals to start flowing because the positions he finds himself in and the space he is able to create for himself is excellent.
Domínguez's defensive metrics - fbref.com
Defensively, Domínguez is obviously very adept as the metrics would suggest, however I believe the numbers are slightly misleading and may lead to him being misprofiled as a destroyer, someone who can move sideline-to-sideline breaking up play and protecting the back 4. Despite the fact his success rate is admirable, his technique in the tackle is very inconsistent and often reckless; he tends to explode into tackles at full speed or looks to poke the ball away instead of securely regaining possession. Very rarely will he come out of a tackle with the ball himself, rather he prefers a more scrappy approach of knocking the ball away from the carrier into space no matter what.
While not entirely a negative factor of his game (in fact his battling mentality towards duels may be coveted by a lot of clubs and managers), this does pose an issue if he moves to a more physical imposing league. Diving into challenges as he does without having the size and physical traits to back it up will not translate well against bigger, more dominant opposition. There needs to be more finesse to his challenges.
The same concern relates to his aerial duelling ability; the attitude and commitment towards the duel is ideal but there needs to be more technical refinement backing it up. His success rate in aerial duels is fantastic for a man of average stature and athleticism but it just will not translate in say the Premier League or European competitions.
Despite these flaws, Domínguez does truly excel in one particular aspect of defending, positioning and reading the opposition. While it may not seem true at a glance of his interception numbers, Domínguez understands what the opposition want to do with the ball at all times and knows what passing lanes to halt them - the reason his interception numbers are relatively low is because he is often occupying the passing lane before the opposition has a chance to release the ball, forcing them to stop and look for another option. He is so switched on at all times, always exactly where he has to be, great spacial awareness, and a natural understanding of the sport that cannot be taught.
This is the core trait that makes Domínguez such a well rounded and effective footballer despite a lack of athleticism, power, and defensive refinement, not many can read the game and find weaknesses like he can, and even fewer have the on-ball ability to capitalise on it. Right now he is a reliable and versatile footballer who can become a box-to-box monster even without the usual athletic profile, so long as he makes the proper improvements in duelling and ball striking - this is why he is garnering interest from top clubs.
Regarding his impending move to Nottingham Forest, which at the time of writing seems all but complete: he will be an excellent distributor of the balls in behind Awoniyi loves, has the brains and positioning to slot into that deep block with zero issue, and may add a bit of ball retention to a side who desperately need it. From my point of view, Forest need more of a true 6 to give Danilo, Santos, and Morgan Gibbs-White the attacking freedom they need to perform and Domínguez isn't that. There's also some stylistic concerns that I feel may hamper Domínguez's performance - he wants to have a decent amount of the ball and Forest do not have the capacity to provide that, therefore he will have to operate in a more limited role, essentially just using his passing range to stretch teams. If Forest sign a proper defensive midfielder to play alongside him all concerns pretty much go out the window and I'd love the move.