Wednesday, 4 February 2015

Pogba, Sterling and Kane ranked among top stars under age of 23 in rankings of the best on planet

Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba is among the best performers aged 23 or under in the world and a few Barclays Premier League youngsters are keeping him company in a new star-studded list just revealed.
CIES Football Observatory have compiled the top 12 for rigour, take-ons, recovery, chance creation, distribution and shooting - using statistics to analyse and narrow them down.
Juventus starlet Pogba features in three of the six categories and is joined by familiar names, such as Barcelona's Neymar, Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane and Liverpool's Raheem Sterling.

Pogba has been letting those at Old Trafford know what they missed out on after Sir Alex Ferguson allowed the France international to leave in 2012. Yet the 21-year-old fails to make the top five, despite featuring for distribution (12th), take-ons (12th) and shooting (11th).
In terms of chances created and shooting, two players represent the Premier League in the best five. Tottenham's Kane is second only to Barcelona's Neymar for shooting, while CIES Football Observatory find Liverpool's Sterling is fourth for chances created.
The top creator of chances is Real Madrid's Isco as the 22-year-old fights for his place at the Bernabeu alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.  

Staying on attack-minded players, Arsenal will be glad to see Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain top the list for take-ons. The 21-year-old last featured for Arsene Wenger's side in a 2-0 win over Premier League champions Manchester City at the Etihad and was substituted after 66 minutes.
Sneaking in at fifth is Sterling, hot on the heels of Monaco's Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, Paris Saint-Germain's Lucas Mourinho and Palermo's Paulo Dybala respectively. 
In terms of distribution, PSG's Marco Verratti tops the list but in third is Tottenham's Christian Eriksen.
Not only has the 22-year-old scored winners against Sunderland and Leicester City, and single-handedly got Tottenham to the Capital One Cup final, he has the distribution to match.

And so to recoveries. Manchester United get a mention via Phil Jones, who sits third behind Monaco's Layvin Kurzawa and Bayern Munich's David Alaba respectively.
Then, rigour, which CIES Football Observatory work out by analysing a player's ability to minimise goal opportunities for opponents through robust duelling.
There may be no room for a representative from Chelsea in any of the six categories, but Burnley's 22-year-old defender Michael Keane sits behind Atletico Madrid's Jose Gimenez.
It is some feat by the youngster, who finds himself ahead of Marquinhos in the list.

No comments:

Post a Comment