Rumours from various football media outlets in the last 24 hours have linked young Crystal Palace right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka to a move across London to Arsenal. With the North Londoners reportedly lining up a bid of £40 million.
The 21-year-old has impressed every corner of the footballing world since bursting onto the scene at Selhurst Park a year ago today in a Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur. Since then, he’s been continually rumoured to be heading for a bigger and better club than the Eagles.
With the summer transfer window just a few months away, that big-money move to one of Europe’s elite looks to be closer than ever. And Unai Emery‘s Gunners are the front-runners to be Wan-Bissaka’s next destination according to many sources.
However, should he make the move to the Emirates Stadium, would he be able to get into the starting Xl ahead of the currently-injured first-choice right-back Hector Bellerin and how does he compare to the man just two years his senior? Find out in our statistical tactical analysis.
Statistical analysis
For the main phase of our analysis today, we are going to be comparing the two defenders statistically to see which one has performed better this season. We will do this with the help of the whoscored.com image below, containing their overall stats in the Premier League in 2018/2019 so far.
Firstly, we notice that Wan-Bissaka has both played more matches in the league this term and been on the pitch for more minutes than Bellerin, this is down to the latter’s injury woes. Although when fit, both have been regulars for their London clubs. Despite this, neither have managed a goal but do have six assists between them in ’18/19, five for the Arsenal man and just the one for his fellow attack-minded full-back.
As we can see, Bellerin has enjoyed the superior disciplinary record, with fewer yellow cards and fewer than the one red of Wan-Bissaka, obtained in a home defeat by Liverpool. The Spanish international, in addition, has averaged three times more shots than the defender two years younger per match and a far higher pass success percentage.
But, there’s a strong finish to our comparison for the England youth international as he takes the final three stats from Bellerin, aerial duels won, Man of the Match awards obtained and average WhoScored match rating.
Summary
When we total up the scores of our comparison in conclusion in this statistics-driven tactical analysis, with one point being awarded to each player for winning an individual stat, the right-backs are not separated as the score is 5-5.
Even if he has played a lot more football this campaign, Wan-Bissaka will be very pleased to be even statistics-wise with one of the best full-backs in the division on his day. This will only increase Arsenal’s interest in the starlet, who could well be a replacement for the injury-prone Bellerin, should they decide to part ways with him at any point or even if they don’t.
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