Manchester United have had a proper defensive overhaul ahead of the current season.
The 51 goals conceded made United the highest conceding side of the top six last season.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has attended to that hurriedly by bringing in two new names.
Harry Maguire takes all the headlines as the world’s most expensive defender, but perhaps a keen eye should be placed on another summer recruitment – a young Aaron Wan Bisakka.
Man United’s tiresome pursuit of the young prospect was finally over after a fee of £50m was agreed with Crystal Palace.
The 21-year-old has already marched straight into the first-team at Old Trafford – replacing Antonio Valencia and relegating Ashley Young to the bench as he takes up the right-back mantle.
Wan-Bissaka’s big-money move will inevitably act as the catalyst for a fierce debate that will rage on for many years.
The comparisons that are already made between AWB and Trent Alexander-Arnold will intensify to almost insufferable levels.
Two young English right-backs playing for bitter adversaries is the perfect setting for the defensive version of the Ronaldo-Messi debate.
Furthermore, the future looks bright for both young players but who is the better English right-back?
This statistical analysis between both players gives a clearer picture of what both young backs can bring to a game.
Defensively
Trent Alexander-Arnold: 2 Tackles, 1.3 Interceptions, 1.9 Clearances, 1.1 dribbled past (per 90)
Aaron Wan-Bissaka: 4 tackles, 2.2 Interceptions, 3.3 Clearances, 0.3 dribbled past (per 90)
Trent Alexander-Arnold has had a stellar start to his English career.
Playing alongside both Alisson Becker and Virgil Van Dijk does have its perks and it shows in the young full-back’s statistics.
He averages 2 tackles and 1.3 interceptions a game, which, given Liverpool’s defensive record, is rather impressive for a 20-year-old.
While he has averaged one tackle a game, Alexander-Arnold’s accuracy is only at a meagre 68.2%.
It shows that he has a long way to go before he becomes a defensive colossus.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka, on the other hand, was a defensive behemoth last season.
For anyone, an average of 4 tackles per game is impressive and that blows Alexander-Arnold out of the water.
Furthermore, Bissaka also made more interceptions, more clearances and also been dribbled past fewer times.
Perhaps the reason why United were after him all along.
Offensively
Trent Alexander-Arnold: 6 assists, 1.5 key passes, 0.6 dribbles (per 90)
Aaron Wan-Bissaka: 2 assists, 0.4 key passes, 1.7 dribbles (per 90)
When it comes to the offensive side of the game, there is only one winner and by a large margin of difference.
The fact that Liverpool dominated nearly every team they played against last season may play a part but take nothing away from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The fact that he averaged 1.5 key passes per game is downright incredible and that’s a statistic that Aaron Wan-Bissaka cannot even come close to matching.
A key part of Liverpool’s attacking force, the young full-back has produced the goods time after time and it shows.
So far in the Premier League last season, Alexander-Arnold was able to rack up six assists to his name.
Wan-Bissaka, on the other hand, has struggled offensively but still managed to create 0.4 key passes per game, with 2 assists to his name.
However, where the Crystal Palace full-back does beat Alexander-Arnold is when it comes down to dribbles per game.
It’s there than the Eagles’ star flourishes, showing that things could change if he plays for a more attack-minded team.
Conclusion
The statistics show that the two right-backs are not similar. While Trent Alexander-Arnold does his best work going forward, Aaron Wan-Bissaka does his best work defensively.
Both are two different right-backs playing for two different teams and that has clearly made an impact on the statistics.
There is no outright better player but each of them have a special edge to their game which fits depending on the teams they play for.
**all data taken from whoscored.com
