Florian Wirtz leads Leverkusen as best young player in Europe

The modern era of European soccer has put a premium on young players dominating. In Spain, Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi and the rest of the La Masia graduates have helped turn a dire situation around at Barcelona. The Premier League has seen players like Cole Palmer, Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho and Harvey Elliott. Yet, 20-year-old sensation Florian Wirtz at Bayer Leverkusen may top all of them in terms of talent and ability. The German has played a starring role in a history-making season for Bayer Leverkusen en route to the side’s first-ever Bundesliga title.

Xabi Alonso’s side has yet to lose a game this season, and Wirtz has played in all but two of those games. With Wirtz regularly working out of a central attacking position in the midfield, he leads the team in assists while ranking second in goals. In his 41 appearances this season, Wirtz has scored 17 goals and provided 18 assists in all competitions. He ranks fourth in the Bundesliga in terms of assists while sitting in a tie for seventh in the goals department.

While those stats jump off the page, perhaps the best part of Wirtz’s game is his dribbling ability. The midfielder ranks toward the top of all players in Europe in terms of dribbling success rate. In terms of deeper stats, Wirtz ranks fourth in the Bundesliga in both progressive carries and progressive passes. This stat comes down to advancing the ball 10 yards whether that be through dribbling or passing. In total, he has 348 progressive actions in the Bundesliga this season, or roughly 12 per game. That has a profound impact on how aggressive a team can be particularly given Xabi Alonso’s attacking nature.

Mind you, Wirtz is still just 20 years old. Showing this level of confidence is only going to allow Wirtz to get more comfortable in top-level contests. That has paid off for Leverkusen this season with the Meisterschale. It could take the club even higher over future seasons.

Leverkusen helps Florian Wirtz reach…

Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/florian-wirtz-leads-leverkusen-as-best-young-player-in-europe/

Author : Kyle Fansler

Publish date : 2024-04-18 21:30:00

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