Yangel Herrera

Key strength: Work rate

Box-to-box midfielder

Real Sociedad find themselves stuck in 10th place, their season stagnating through a frustrating sequence of four draws and a defeat that has left them drifting through mid-table mediocrity. Yet on the sidelines sits a €6 million solution that manager Imanol Alguacil refuses to unleash. Yangel Herrera, the 28-year-old Venezuelan international, has become the invisible man at the Reale Arena—banished to just 90 minutes across the entire campaign. In his lone appearance, he managed an assist and showed flashes of the tireless work rate that defines his box-to-box game. With 60-rated passing and 53 physicality, he offers exactly the defensive steel and composure this spluttering side craves. While Alguacil persists with alternatives like Jon Gorrotxategi in midfield, Herrera's combative edge remains frozen on the bench at his peak age. La Real's inability to convert those four recent stalemates into victories screams for fresh legs and new ideas. With each dropped point, the question grows louder: why leave such an asset untapped when European contention demands every available weapon?