Paulo Dybala’s future remains in a cloud of uncertainty as he is the subject of a transfer toggle between Manchester United and Tottenham.
The former were reportedly leading the race to sign the Argentine but a fresh twist has seen Tottenham emerge as the favourites to land the 25-year-old.
Will he be a significant upgrade to Spurs current options? This statistical analysis gives a comparison between the wanted playmaker and current Tottenham midfielder Christian Eriksen.
Goals and Assists
As someone who has traditionally occupied a more advanced role, you might expect Dybala to comfortably lead the way here.
However, the emergence of Moise Kean limited his options at Juventus and he picked up just five goals and four assists in Serie A last season.
Dybala averaged a goal or assist every 237.4 minutes in the league, while Eriksen had a far better 116.3 minutes to do the same. The Argentine racked up 6 goals and four assists while the Danish midfielder boasted a superior 10 goals and 15 assists.
The majority of Dybala’s goals though came from outside the box and Eriksen could only manage one goal from long range.
Paulo Dybala: Has scored more goals from outside the box (18) than any other player since the start of the 2015/16 Serie A season
For more player stats — https://t.co/TAMoyuCoxS pic.twitter.com/pM1RORtWYN
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) August 1, 2019
Passing and attacking
Goal and assist tallies can give a clue to a player’s performances in a season, but they should never be considered the yardstick for rating a player’s overall season; particularly when the players in question are midfielders.
After all, sometimes a team-mate will have an off-day and what should have been another assist to add to the tally ends up being another wasted chance.
This is where key pass stats come into focus, and Dybala (1.7 per game) is comfortably ahead of Eriksen (1.3) in this department. Perhaps we can blame Cristiano Ronaldo for the assist numbers not being higher.
His 1.7 dribbles per game also put him higher than the Danish midfielder, who managed 1.2 a game.
Defensive contributions
Dybala again leads the line in this regard as his 0.6 tackles per game is considerably ahead Eriksen’s at 0.2 per game.
The 25-year-old also came out on top in clearances at 0.5 per game compared to Eriksen’s 0.3 per game.
Perhaps for games when a more physical approach is needed, the Argentine might be a much better option.
Both players have a different approach to their gameplay and depending on the game plan will one of them only emerge as a more probable candidate.
With Spurs’ energetic, high-pressing game, it’ll be interesting to see how the potential arrival of Paulo Dybala could affect both players and if the arrival of the Argentine could eventually force Eriksen on his way out of the club.
