CIES names Nigeria born prodigy best performing youngster
The youngster was ranked number one, Manchester United embattled forward Mason Greenwood was ranked number two and Patrick Wimmer of Arminia Bielefeld number three
The CIES Football Observatory has named Nigeria born Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka as the best performing youngster in their study done across 32 European Football Leagues.
CIES is a research group created in 2005 within the Swiss-based Centre International d’Étude du Sport (CIES).
It specialises in the statistical analysis of football, in particular in the areas of demographics, transfer values and performance.
In it, issue number 375 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post released on Monday it presents the 100 best performing U21 outfield players from 32 European leagues according to a brand-new approach taking into consideration players’ performance compared to teammates, the employer team’s sporting level, as well as that of opponents.
Saka of Arsenal was ranked number one, Manchester United embattled forward Mason Greenwood was ranked number two and Patrick Wimmer of Arminia Bielefeld number three.
For all players listed, the study does not only mention their pitch position but also the role played within the team according to fifteen technical profile categories.
The latter are built from eleven game indicators collected by CIES partners InStat, covering eight different game areas as detailed in the 74th edition of the CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report: air defence, ground defence, recovery, distribution, take on, chance creation, air attack and shooting.
Saka, for example, is part of the “infiltrator creator” category, defining players particularly active in the “take on” and “chance creation” areas.
Greenwood has a “shooter infiltrator” profile (“shooting and take on”), Patrick Wimmer a “shooter creator” one (“shooting and chance creation).
Players from 26 leagues and 14 technical profiles are in the top 100, with the French Ligue 1 (14 players) and the “infiltrator creators” (24 players) being the most represented.
CIES was created in 1995 as a joint venture between the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the University of Neuchâtel, the City and State of Neuchatel.
