The Most Underrated Statistic in Soccer
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When you look at young players making waves, there’s a few things that you need to juggle.
Often, you can get so deep in the weeds that you lose focus on the obvious.
One of the most underrated… Actually, the most underrated statistic in soccer prospecting, in my opinion, is minutes played.
Why Minutes Played
Before we start, it’s important to know that all minutes aren’t really created equal.
All minutes are good. Minutes in smaller leagues are good, minutes in bigger leagues are better.
And obviously the better the team, the more impressive the minutes are.
So you could say that it kind of scales up.
The best way to think about that scale is to look at it like this. Consider the best clubs in the world. Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Man City etc… These clubs need to win. And they can afford the best players in the world at their peak ages.
So, if an 18-year-old is a consistent starter for a very top team, that is a huge indicator of player quality.
When you start getting to smaller clubs/leagues, sometimes teams use player sales as a major revenue stream - so that means they’ll likely play younger players.
I also like to consider starting minutes to be a little more important than substitute minutes too. Often, a young attacking player will be given a role to go out an ‘make something happen’ in a tight match - or a role that is far more attacking. This can often hide any deficiencies in their game that are holding them from the starting lineup.
However, as a general blanket rule - the more minutes the better.
Finding The Young Guys That Get The Most Minutes
With all that in mind, I wanted to
The top five European Leagues
Players ages 19 and younger
Played at least 900 minutes this season
Started at least 10 games
Putting those search parameters on, we’re left with only fourteen players. Here they are, with a little about them.
Players are sorted by the most minutes to the least minutes.
Benoît Badiashile (Monaco): To be holding down a key defensive position at a large club whilst being a teenager is pretty incredible. Find his cards here.
Bukayo Saka (Arsenal): Arsenal’s best player this season? Maybe. Saka has been a shining light on an otherwise dull season at Arsenal. He’s mighty impressive. Find his cards here.
Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen): Florian Wirtz…. So hot right now.
The 17-year-old has been a beast in the Bundesliga this season and I can see some huge things for him going forward. Leverkusen have a pedigree of developing some top class talent, so it’ll be interesting to see how he goes. Find his cards here.
Eduardo Camavinga (Rennes): Another name known to everyone in the hobby. Camavinga burst onto the scene in a classic Rennes match against PSG - where he dominated seasoned pros. He’s one of the key players at Rennes, and is already a French international. I think he’s going to stay at Rennes a little longer - well, he should. He still goes missing in games from time to time. He needs another few years in France to round out his game before moving. Find his cards here.
Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund): Another key part of the hobby already, Reyna is a key cog in a good Dortmund side. That’s often forgotten. He’s only 17. Crazy. Find his cards here.
Pedri (Barcelona): Another young player getting minutes at a top club, Pedri has really made a name for himself this season. Find his cards here.
Yunus Musah (Valencia): Another American?! Musah is getting great minutes at Valencia this season. Find his cards here.
Jeremy Doku (Rennes): I wrote a scouting report on Doku at the start of the season (I can’t remember if it was before or after the move to Rennes). But he’s been good this season! I’m even more a fan now than I was at the start of the season. Find his cards here.
Bryan Gil (Eibar): On loan from Sevilla, Gil has slid under the radar a little in the hobby. High in key passes, crosses, and dribbles - sounds like a good winger to me! Find his cards here.
Khéphren Thuram (Nice): Marcus Thuram’s younger brother is starting in the central midfield role for Nice - playing heavy minutes in a key role as a teen is always impressive. Find his cards here.
Adrien Truffert (Rennes): The third Rennes player on this list! That’s pretty insane. Truffert is a solid fullback that’s getting a fair few crosses and key passes per 90 minutes played. Find his cards here.
Adil Aouchiche (Saint-Étienne): Another player in the French league - Aouchiche has been mentioned on this newsletter once or twice before. I’m a fan. Find his cards here.
Nathanael Mbuku (Reims): Would you believe it if I told you there was a wide player in a bottom-half Ligue 1 side on this list? Mbuku is playing on probably the worst team in France, so it’ll be interesting to see what he does in the next few seasons. Find his cards here.
Rayan Ait Nouri (Wolverhampton Wanderers): I’ll tell you what… if you told me at the start of this article that there were two Premier League players, I don’t know how many guesses it’d take me to get to Ait Nouri, but it would be a couple. The fullback has flown under the radar at Wolves. Find his cards here.
Unlucky to Miss Out
I widened the preferences a tad to see those guys who just missed the cut.
I basically took the minute threshold back to 800 minutes, and removed the amount od starts needed.
Here are four of my favorite players on that list of players that missed out - with links to their eBay searches.
Ander Barrenetxea (find his cards here)
Mason Greenwood (find his cards here)
El Bilal Toure (find his cards here)
Ivan Ilic (find his cards here)
Key Takeaways
Looking at this list, there’s a few things that stand out.
The French league started a little earlier than the rest - so some teams have played more matches than other leagues around Europe. This could help contribute to the high rate of players in France. Although, the French league is definitely a league where great young players develop.
There’s two American players! That’s pretty insane
There aren’t too many players playing in top sides - showing how rare this is at the top level. If you’re doing this in a top half French, English, German, Italian, or Spanish side, that is special
Lots of wide players on this list…. Not many in key positions down the spine of the side (GK, CB, CM, ST)
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