Best Young Attacking Threats in Europe
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One of favorite data combos to look at for attacking players is expected goals and touches in the box.
In this article, we’ll look at the best young attacking players when analyzing those two stats against each other.
Now, this isn’t a full list of who is and isn’t a great prospect - it’s another data piece though, and showing players that get into good positions in the penalty box.
The Parameters
When looking at these numbers, there was a few things that I wanted put limits on, just to narrow down the pool.
Players 20 and under
Players from the top five European Leagues
Data from this season only
Players that have played over 500 minutes this season
I like this list because it gives just the teen/20-year-old prospects but the 500 minute
The Results
With those parameters, here are the results.
The further towards the right a player’s point is, the higher expected goals per 90 minutes, and the higher the player’s point is on the graph, the more touches in the box they get per 90 minutes.
Five Key Takeaways
Looking at this list, the following players are the standouts (to me anyway).
Erling Haaland: Turns out Haaland is pretty good at soccer despite some trying to now say he’s overhyped 🤦 Haaland is constantly getting the ball in teriffic areas to shoot. And, he’s likely to move clubs this offseason too! Find his cards on eBay.
Moise Kean: The Italian striker has found form at PSG - can you believe he’s only 20?! It feels like he’s been around forever. I was completely wrong on his move to PSG; I didn’t think he’d play enough - my mouth is full of humble pie and it tastes sweet as fuck. I’m well and truly back on Moise Kean island - I tuned my little row-boat around and went back to shore. Find his cards on eBay.
Phil Foden: Foden is anything but hype and one good game against Liverpool. The young City star is getting in the box a lot this season - partially due to playing a little further up the pitch this season. I actually agree with Pep that Foden is a little lost at times in the middle, and he also gets pushed off the ball a little too easy to play as an 8. However, playing in an advanced role has been a gamechanger for him. Find his cards on eBay.
Timothy Weah: Americans might be a little excited to see Weah on this list. However, he’s only just scraped over the 500 minute threshold at 504 minutes at the time of writing. I’m guessing a little bit of a small sample size here, and the fact that he’s playing so few minutes off the bench can really skew per 90 stats. However, if you think his per 90s might scale if he gets more minutes, then he’s a great buy. Check out his cards on eBay.
There’s so many great young talents in France. Kevin Denkey, Amine Gouiri and Arnaud Kalimuendo are just a few guys that feature here. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing. With the sheer amount of quality youngsters in France it means that there’s always going to be quality coming through - however, a lot of the prospects won’t turn out to be hobby relevant down the line. France is still an A1 prospecting league though. Topps or Panini need to take the league seriously.
Okay…. I know I said five takeaways, but this is way too cool. If you bump up the minutes to 1000 minutes this season, that cuts the list down a lot. And with that, there’s only three strikers that average over 0.4 expected goals a match - Erling Haaland, Moise Kean, and Amine Gouiri.
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