This Chelsea Defender is the top performing across Europe’s top 5 leagues in 19/20 season

According to statistical results by iSports API, Chelsea player Emerson Palmieri is the top performing left back across Europe’s top 5 leagues so far this season.

He is the only Chelsea representative in the starting 11, that also features Raheem Sterling, Teemu Pukki, and Jadon Sancho to name a few.

The Brazilian has gotten off to a flying start for Chelsea under Frank Lampard, and has been a real menace to The Blues attacks, providing that extra threat on the left.

He’s been strong defensively as well and has improved vastly from last season. So much so that Marcos Alonso isn’t even getting a look in these days.

iSports API football data look at a large amount of stats defensively and offensively, and they scored Emerson a high rating so far. This rating would be much higher should his team not be leaking goals.

The way he is going so far, Chelsea might actually have finally found an Ashley Cole replacement, all these years later.

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Is Mohamed Salah's Individualism Hurting Liverpool? Far From It

Liverpool’s 3-0 win at Burnley shows that last season’s Premier League runners-up are continuing to make progress. Burnley have posed Jürgen Klopp real problems since his appointment on Merseyside, not always getting a result but constantly breaching Liverpool’s defence. There was no great danger of that at the weekend, but the positives from a convincing win at a tough away ground were somewhat overshadowed. Instead, attention turned to a potential rift in the Liverpool squad. Worse still, it concerned players who will be utterly pivotal to their hopes of overcoming Manchester City and going one better in the league this season.

When Liverpool have won big in the past, the names of Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah have often graced the same scoresheet. The relationship between the club’s fearsome front three has been a key catalyst to transforming a team from hopefuls to European champions. For that reason, when Mané was enraged at being substitute just moments after Salah had opted not to put him in on goal, the narrative was that there was trouble in paradise. Not long before, Salah had also attempted to go for goal himself rather than picking out Firmino in a far more favourable position.

Tellingly, Salah, unlike his fellow forwards, had failed to find the net at Turf Moor. Regardless of the level you are playing at, if your teammates are scoring goals, it is tempting to force your way in on the act – at times to the detriment of the team. Had Liverpool been drawing the game or just winning by a single goal, Salah’s decision-making may have been very different. You don’t score the number of goals he has without taking the greedy option every once in a while, but is it unfair to say he is overly selfish.

Salah is undoubtedly more individualistic in his play than his teammates, but he is also more effective in the final third. He is better at picking up positions not only to shoot for himself but pick out a teammate to do the same. He ranks tenth for chances created in the Premier League since the start of last season, with 77. That’s way above either Mané (55) or Firmino (46)，as per iSports API.

The modest number of chances the Brazilian creates may come as a surprise to some, but there is a reason for that. His job is to operate further from goal, allowing his wide teammates to bomb on in attempt to stretch the play and get behind the opposition’s defence. Firmino, after all, has attempted to pass with more than 70% of his overall touches since the start of last season accoring to iSports API, with Mané’s equivalent figure just over 65% and Salah’s just under 60%.

Salah shoots more often than his teammates, doing so with 7.5% of his touches to Mané’s 4.8% and Firmino’s 4.7%. He also attempts more dribbles, doing so with 8.1% of his touches to Mané’s 5.5% and Firmino’s 4.5%. Crucially though, his end product more than compensates for what some might see as selfishness. While Mané scored as many goals as Salah last season (the pair shared the Golden Boot in the Premier League with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang), he managed just one assist – a tally he has already matched this campaign. Salah, by comparison, set up eight league goals last season and has set up two already this campaign.

Mané and Salah have an exceptional partnership, the most productive in the squad. They have set up chances for each other 40 times since the start of last season, with Mané setting up Salah 23 times and Salah returning the favour on 17 occasions. The combination between Salah and Firmino is not far behind, on 38; iSports API shouws Salah has teed up the Brazilian 21 times, being paid back with 17 chances in return.

Interestingly, the link-up between Firmino and Mané is not nearly as effective. They have combined to create a chance for one another just 20 times since the start of last season – exactly half what Salah and Mané have achieved. Again, Liverpool are at their most productive when Salah is involved.

With regards to Mané’s outburst on the sidelines on Saturday, it is natural to become even more concerned with one’s goal return in a team that scores so many. It sparks competition among teammates that may at times boil over into what some might consider petulance – see Sergio Agüero’s reaction to being withdrawn for Gabriel Jesus last month. With the right guidance and coaching, that competition can breed great success.

Should Salah have passed to his teammates when they were in better positions to score at Burnley? Of course. Would he have done so under different circumstances with the scoreline less comfortable? History, in terms of his own returns by way of chances created and assists when compared to his teammates, suggests he probably would.

Throw in the fact that footballers have personal lives and mood swings outside of the game and one might come to the conclusion that Mané was just more wound up than usual. Only time will tell if there is any genuine lasting friction between the players, but perhaps the international break will do everyone involved some good.

All sports data collects from iSports API.

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Football Talent Scout Report: Jadon Sancho

Jadon Malik Sancho is an English Under-19 player who currently plays for German Club Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga. The 18-year-old played for the Manchester City youth academy until Dortmund paid 7.05 Million Pounds for him in late August 2017. He can play on both the wings in an advanced midfield cum attacking position, but his proficiency lies in the left wing position.

Sancho was part of the England squad which won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in India 2 years ago. The left winger is currently valued at £80 million as per sports analysis website, iSports API.

17/18 season, Sancho played a total of 12 games for Dortmund in the Bundesliga and scored 1 goal in those appearances for the club. In the current 2018-19 season which has just begun, Sancho has appeared for the senior squad in a total of 4 matches – 3 in the Bundesliga and 1 in the League Cup, DFB-Pokal, as per iSports API.

What’s astonishing, is the fact that Sancho has a brilliant record of 3 assists in his 4 appearances this season and that too having just played 96 minutes in total. That averages to around an assist every 32 minutes, which might be one of the best assist per minute averages in Europe right now if we were to leniently not consider various other factors involved.

Just to remind you, we are talking about an 18-year-old here. As per reports from iSports API, after graduating from the Manchester City academy not long ago, Sancho was chased by Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham. He was also offered a new contract at Manchester City worth 30,000 Pounds which he turned down.

The English teenager then chose Dortmund as his new home, after turning down all the English heavyweights. Dortmund Sporting Director Michael Zorc has hailed Jadon Sancho as ‘one of the greatest young talents in European football’ and has assured that he will ‘definitely play at BVB’.

After being given the number 7 jersey at Dortmund which was vacated by Barcelona bound Ousmane Dembele, and has been previously worn by former Dortmund stars Shinji Kagawa and Robert Lewandowski, the future looks bright for the young Englishman.

Also, Dortmund has always been known to produce and develop Europe’s best talents – the list of which contains big names such as Marco Reus, Mario Gotze, Robert Lewandowski, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Shinji Kagawa and so on – Sancho might be one of the names to be added to this list in the coming 3 years.

In a recent article by The Guardian, Sancho was described as ‘A street player with the potential to be England’s Neymar who can emulate Dele Alli for England' by former England youth coach, Dan Micciche. This is due to the 18-year-old’s quick feet and dribbling abilities on the left wing position for Borussia Dortmund as well as for England at the Under-19 and Under-17 levels. Dan Micciche has coached Sancho at the U-17 level.

Having an Under-17 World Cup under his belt in addition to the number 7 jersey and an important squad role at Dortmund, there is only one thing that is sure about Jadon Sancho - his development.

The teenager will surely learn a lot from German World Cup winners Mario Gotze and Marco Reus who are his teammates at Dortmund, while the three of them fight for the advanced midfield position at the club.

Another fact is that Dortmund guarantees Sancho not only good exposure of German football but also European competitions, which is a big plus if the Englishman is bound to ever return to one of the Premier League giants. The Premier League clubs have been disappointing in the Champions League for many years now and would love a huge prospective European talent like Sancho, 3-4 years down the line.

The future is bright for the 18-year-old Englishman.

All datas from iSports API.

Phil Foden, the next superstar in Manchenster City

Being a young player at a big club is not easy. It’s even truer at Manchester City where all positions are covered twice (almost three times) and where the bench still contains world-class quality.

Almost 10 years on from Mansour’s takeover, not one English player from City’s academy made a Premier League or Champions League appearance last season. Phil Foden is the exception.

He has been at Manchester City since the age of nine. Now 17, the young midfielder has been promoted to the first team after excelling for the U18s last term.

He also was the star man for England under 17s as the Three Lions made history by winning the FIFA U17 World Cup for the first time in the country’s history in 2017. His two goals in the competition’s final secured the trophy as he emerged the golden ball winner as the tournament’s best player.
Style of play

Phil Foden has developed as an offensive midfielder with a preference for the leads. Some fans already name him the ‘Stockport Iniesta’ in reference to his hometown. Indeed, there are a lot of similarities between the Barcelona player and the young Englishman.

Firstly he is a playmaker. Either in youth competitions or in elite games, he always has the adaptability to lead the game thanks to very good qualities with and without the ball. He scores and provides assists in the same quantities, the mark of top players, being decisive whatever his position on the field.

Phil Foden is very fast and smart. Here he oriented his body to be ready to get the ball and move forward quickly.

Like Iniesta, he is also a dribbler thanks to an incredible left foot. Moreover, he has a particular physique. He is quite thin for a player reaching such a level (even more for the Premier League) and boasts excellent stamina and maximum speed.

Although his apparent lack of toughness can be seen as a weakness, he protects the ball well and is so rarely dispossessed.

On the field, he played most of the time in the midfield, either behind the striker as a number 10 or a bit on the right side.

However, when Pep Guardiola called him up to play with the first team to play Premier League games (he played a total of 43 minutes last season and already eight minutes this season, as per iSports API), he used him on the left side of the attack as we can see on the touch map below.

We really started hearing about him when Pep Guardiola arrived at Manchester City. The Catalan said of the player during the pre-season tour of the United States in 2017:

“It’s a long time since I saw something like this. His performance was another level. He’s 17 years old, he’s a City player, he grew up in the academy, he loves the club, he’s a City fan and for us he’s a gift.”

In fact, it is not his habit to play a lot of young players but recent declarations show how Phil Foden and Guardiola have a good relationship.

“It gives me a lot of confidence that the manager wants to keep me. He’s always talking to me and letting me know where I need to improve. I just listen to him and see what he can help me with and make me better.”

That is why he opted to go on City’s tour instead of playing for the England U19 team this summer.

“I think it was right for me to stay here and try to develop more and become a better player. It’s going to be quite difficult. I just need to try and show the manager what I can do in training, work hard and see where that takes me.”

With Guardiola in charge, Foden may just develop into another world-class superstar reminiscent of Xavi or Iniesta.

One tough obstacle for Foden is that there are a lot of players higher in the hierarchy, not to mention Riyad Mahrez’s arrival this summer. However, there are some elements in favour of the young Englishman.

Firstly he is a homegrown graduate in a club which definitely needs that kind of player. Currently the Premier League allows a maximum of 17 non-homegrown players in each 25-man club squad. This means that in a full squad, there must be at least eight homegrown players. Therefore Foden is likely to stay in the plans of management, at least for this reason.

With a busy club schedule, he will also have more playing time as David Silva gradually leaves his place little by little. Phil Foden is the perfect substitute for the Spaniard, who recently retired from international duties.

But like Daniel Sturridge or Kieran Trippier before, the young talent could be forced to leave Manchester if he doesn’t earn more playing time. This is the downside of the influx of cash and the arrivals of big stars.