The toughest league in the world
Opta Power Rankings give the Premier League an average rating of 92.8. The Bundesliga comes next at 86.9. The gap between the two is almost as wide as the one separating the Bundesliga from the English Championship, which sits at 81.2. Eleven English clubs are in the global top 20.
That is why a player’s numbers never just carry over. Erling Haaland and Viktor Gyokeres arrived with similar records, 62 goals in 67 games for the former at Dortmund, 68 in 66 for the latter at Sporting. Haaland went on to score 36 goals, a league record. Gyokeres managed 14 last season.
A 19-year-old defender who scores
Luka Vuskovic joined Brighton for 46 million pounds after a loan spell at Hamburg that earned him a place in the Bundesliga team of the season. At 19, and at a club sitting 13th. Among defenders with more than 1,500 minutes, he led the German league for defensive contributions (12.5 per 90 minutes), aerial duel win rate (74.5%) and goals scored (six).
The Opta projection model trims that total to 9.9 defensive contributions per 90 minutes. The reason is as much about the team as the player: Jan Paul van Hecke and Lewis Dunk were down at 8.9 and 7.4 respectively last season at Brighton.
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Garcia steps into a hole at Fulham
Gonzalo Garcia is leaving Real Madrid for Fulham. Six goals in nine La Liga starts, a perfect hat-trick against Betis in January, and the best conversion rate at the Madrid club (28.6%). Only Kylian Mbappe beat his 0.57 goals per 90 minutes for Los Blancos.
The projection has him at 0.44 goals per 90 minutes, with a handy extra: he is modelled as Fulham’s most likely penalty taker. The club has lost its two top scorers from last season, Harry Wilson (10 goals) and Raul Jimenez (9).
Ball-winners, the other gold mine
Mamadou Sangare has signed for Brentford after a season of 14.2 defensive contributions per 90 minutes with Lens. That was the best total in Ligue 1, and a figure Premier League players would have struggled to top. His projection drops to 12.5, which would still put him sixth in England.
Bazoumana Toure has moved from Hoffenheim to Newcastle for 42 million pounds, with 0.54 assists per 90 minutes. Only two players did better in the Premier League last season: Bruno Fernandes (0.70) and Rayan Cherki (0.66). His projection falls to 0.26. The Bundesliga averages 3.2 goals per match, the Premier League 2.8. Hoffenheim scored 1.9, Newcastle 1.4.
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