Zlatan Ibrahimovic? No, Maxime
Gonalons. The Lyon midfielder, a Napoli target since the very beginning
of the transfer market (even though he was earlier linked with an
Arsenal move as well), was rewarded by the Capello Index as the best
player of the 2012/2013 Ligue 1, and with good reason if we take a
deeper look at his numbers.
The 24 year-old France international,
whose evaluation reached the €10 million mark, obtained a season index
of 65,06, and surely not thanks to his goals, as he only netted three in
35 league outings (plus one in six caps in the Europa League), plus 9
saved attempts (73,92) and even no assists: not much really, but
efficiency nearby the opponents' box is definitely not his cup of tea
considering that he scored just eight in 150 career matches. What's
really extraordinary in his card is the pass accuracy, especially in
relation to the number of possessions: 2530 total passes, 2229 of which
positive, for an awesome average of 88,10%. To make a comparison, the
historical kings of this category (Xavi and Pirlo) had 92,69% and 82,34%
respectively.
Other impressive numbers are those
regarding the balls recovered (344, for a rating of 68,88), an average
of more than 8 per match, in front of only 42 lost, less than one per
match, plus an extraordinary 132 interceptions (rating of 70,94), a
number that finds few equals in Europe, and the aerial plays won: his
187 cm allowed him to prevail in 72 out of 99 duels, for a rating of
65,00. But that's not all: 141 tackles won (rating of 71,86) and only 27
lost are a further evidence of how strongly Gonalons makes his presence
felt in the middle, and all this with only 95 fouls committed (a little
more than two per match), in front of 60 suffered, and 13 yellow cards,
two of which in the same match for the lone ejection of his season.
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