Who are the most productive players when running with the ball at their feet in 2023-24? We look at the best ball carriers in Europe this season.
Who doesn’t enjoy watching a player running at opposition defences with the ball at their feet? Our ball carries metric looks at players who travel at least five metres with the ball – but which players are the most productive from these moments when attacking?
Here, we look at the players in the top five European leagues in 2023-24 who have produced the most attacking contributions following a ball carry.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
It’s okay to admit that you hadn’t heard of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia two years ago. After leaving Russian side Rubin Kazan following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Georgian winger moved back home to Dinamo Batumi for a few months. Then Napoli came knocking.
We made Kvaratskhelia one of our Analyst 50 players to watch in 2022-23, tipping people off about his talents. You know what happened next – he helped Napoli to their first Serie A title in 33 years.
So far this season, Napoli have been disappointing and won’t retain their Scudetto, as they trail league-leaders Internazionale by 31 points with nine games remaining. That doesn’t mean Kvaratskhelia hasn’t been exciting to watch, though.
Often drifting inside from the left wing, this season has seen him involved in more shots following a ball carry than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues (61), with 41 seeing him attempt the shot himself – another leading tally across Europe. That overall tally is already six more than in Napoli’s title-winning season last year (55 – 29 shots, 26 chances created).
Phil Foden
Some might be surprised to see Phil Foden quite as high up this list as he is, but the Manchester City midfielder has been in fine form for the reigning Premier League champions so far this season, and he has done lots of fine work carrying the ball.
The England international has been involved in 53 shots following a ball carry in the league in 2023-24 (31 shots, 22 chances created), which is not far off double his tally from any previous Premier League campaign.
Getting playing time helps. Foden’s already played more minutes of Premier League football this season (2,312) than he ever has before.
Leroy Sané and Ousmane Dembélé
Leroy Sané and Ousmane Dembélé share third place for shot involvements from ball carries in the top five European leagues this season (48).
No player has created more chances for teammates than Dembélé has for Paris Saint-Germain (31) or Sané has for Bayern Munich (27) in 2023-24, while Frenchman Dembélé leads everyone in the top five European leagues for assists following a ball carry this season (7).
Sané is the leading player across the top five European leagues at beating opponents when running with the ball – nobody has been successful with more take-ons than the Germany international this season (91).
Jeremy Doku and Alexander Grenache
Manchester rivals Jérémy Doku and Alejandro Garnacho are tied on 47 shot involvements from ball carries in the Premier League this season, with only Foden (53) above them from the English top flight.
Doku’s dribbling talents have been well documented and something we analysed upon his signing for Man City this summer. It’s been no different in 2023-24, with the Belgian leading all players to have played at least 800 minutes of action across the top five European leagues for both take-ons attempted per 90 (9.8) and successful take-ons per 90 (5.0).
Doku also averages a shot involvement via a ball carry every 28 minutes on the pitch this season – only PSG’s Dembélé (27 mins) has a better rate.
Garnacho has fast become one of Manchester United’s most important players and is one of only five players at the club to have reached double figures for competitive goal involvements in 2023-24 (11). Overall, he’s tallied 47 shot involvements following a carry – 10 more than any other teenager across the top five European leagues this season.
Honourable Mentions
The player to have been involved in the most goals following a ball carry in the top five European leagues this season doesn’t even feature in the top 10 for shot involvements.
Girona forward Savio (10 goal involvements) has scored five and assisted five more goals following ball carries in La Liga this season – a talent that didn’t escape the eyes of Pep Guardiola, who has already snapped him up to join Man City for next season.
The Brazilian is just ahead of Dutchman Xavi Simons (9) in the rankings, with the RB Leipzig 20-year-old having a fine season in the Bundesliga. Not only is he second in the overall goal involvement rankings, but he also only trails PSG’s Dembélé (7) for assists following a ball carry (6) among players in the top five European leagues this season.
A somewhat surprising leader for goals scored following a ball carry in Europe this season is Hoffenheim forward Maximilian Beier. The 21-year-old has recorded six goals following ball carries this season, which is one more than Sávio, Leon Bailey and Lautaro Martínez.
Other European Leagues
We collect full data on many other European leagues, so it would be remiss of us to not shine a spotlight on some of the most threatening ball carriers from other top-ranked leagues across the continent while we’re on the topic.
When extending our research to the top 10 ranked European leagues (so adding in top flights from Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland and Austria), there is one player who has been even more productive from ball carries than Kvaratskhelia: Aboubakary Koïta.
The Sint-Truiden forward has been in fine form this season, scoring 14 goals and assisting two more. He also leads the Belgian Pro League – and the rest of Europe – for shot involvements following a ball carry.
His tally of 77 is 16 more than Napoli’s Georgian wing wizard, with 52 of those seeing him attempt a shot himself and the other 25 ending with a chance created for a teammate. The end product hasn’t quite matched this impressive total, with only three goals from those 52 shots and one assist from the 25 chances created.
Two more Belgian Pro League players – Club Brugge’s Andreas Skov Olsen and Koïta’s teammate Jarne Steuckers (both 53) – feature in the top 10 European league ranking for shot involvements following a carry, alongside two stars from the Dutch Eredivisie: Johan Bakayoko (56) and Younes Namli (53).
Algerian striker Mohammed Amoura has scored nine goals following ball carries for Union Saint-Gilloise in the Pro League, which is three more than any other player in the top 10 European leagues this season, while Benfica’s Rafa Silva has the most assists following carries (8) across these competitions in 2023-24.
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2024-03-25 17:23:56
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