After 18 appearances so far this season Crystal Palace youngster Aaron Wan-Bissaka has made himself one of the first names on the team sheet leaving many fans asking – where does he rank among the best in his position in the Premier League?
Wan-Bissaka was pushed into the limelight by Roy Hodgson in February, starting against Tottenham due to injury-stricken Palace squad. The England U21 star has since gone from strength to strength in South London.
With pace to burn, the 20-year-old ranks as the Premier league’s second top tackler completing 45 in just 975 minutes – a stat only bettered by Everton’s Idrissa Gueye.
The only other full-back that comes remotely close to that number is Leicester’s Ricardo Pereira (39). Earning an impressive 4.2 tackles per game on average, Wan-Bissaka ranks as the Premier League’s top full-back in terms of tackles made by some distance.
Going forward the Palace defender manages to simply dwarf his rivals in terms of successful dribbles, completing 81% of his dribbles; to put that into perspective Squakwa revealed in July 2018 that Eden Hazard had a 71% dribble success rate for the 2017/18 season.
While not making as many passes on average as the likes of Manchester City’s Kyle Walker or Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta, the defender does complete an above average amount of forward passes.
His forward-thinking style can be encapsulated by his 20% crossing accuracy success managing to surpass the likes of the aforementioned Walker and Liverpool’s Trent-Alexander Arnold – who are both tied on 18%.
Yet with his tender age, there are still elements to improve upon for the South Londoner. For one, his first touch can often lead to the defender getting dispossessed. Should the youngster be flying forward at pace you could forgive a heavy touch, yet it is often when stationary or jogging that the defender’s control lets him down.
While so much emphasis has been placed on Wilfried Zaha’s performances for Crystal Palace, fans can argue that Wan-Bissaka may be more important than their so-called ‘talisman’.
