Sorry for the delay in the update guys. As promised though here is the update for the Premier League teenagers which now includes all games up to 28 February 2014. First of all the stats table:-
As you can see there has been no changes to the players involved. I was intending to use Deulofeu and Berahino. However, Deulofeu has played even less minutes than Gnabry and therefore is too small a sample size to use (Ideally I am going with players only over 500 minutes). Berahino despite playing some time on the flanks has actually played the vast majority of his time as a striker.
Therefore I will focus on the same 5. I will also be adding the La Liga candidates into the mix over the weekend. I aim to have the 5 top leagues (Eng, Fra, Ita, Ger, Spa) represented in here eventually. I will perhaps do a separate table for strikers and another for central midfielders also at a later date to look at how the likes of Barkley & Berahino compare to their European counterparts.
So how is the Sterling v Januzaj battle looking now?
As you can see, Sterling has now moved ahead in every single category. In January Januzaj was ahead in Through Balls per 90 minutes and tied in Productivity (Goals + Assists) per 90 minutes but now Sterling has moved ahead in both those categories also. Some will point out that Sterling has played more than Januzaj and therefore comparison is unfair but everything is measured over 90 minutes played therefore Sterling is matching or bettering Januzaj's average performance levels for the season while Adnan is watching from the Manchester United bench Juan Mata learning how to be a cross loving winger.
Opening this up to the rest of the Premier League again, the Petal chart looks like this:-
What I can tell you is that Sterling is even more dominant now than he was in January. His petal in Jan was the largest by 19%. Now it is the largest by 32%. His dribbling, through balls and productivity have all come on massively this month and he now leads in those 3 categories. This would indicate he is being more adventurous in his approach and this is reflected in his Passing% decreasing and him giving the ball away a little more often.
Januzaj may soon end up the runt of the litter at this rate. He is currently in 4th place still but Redmond is closing the gap fast who, bar Sterling, had the best month from the rest and now there is almost nothing separating Gnabry, Redmond or Januzaj with Ward-Prowse only marginally ahead of that pack also.
Also, if you are David Moyes you could do worse than looking at James Ward Prowse. He averages a whopping 10.29 attempted crosses per 90 minutes played. That number is pretty high even by Devoid Moyes' high standards. That is pretty much double what Januzaj can manage in 90 minutes. If you can get 10 outfield players as productive as Ward-Prowse playing for United you would be looking at 103 crosses per game on average. Then he could be even more unlucky while dominating those score draws.
So how does that compare to the best young La Liga playmakers including our very own Suso? No clue... to be honest.... I need to work that out first. Probably should have done that rather than ask a question that we would all like to know the answer to really
I'll get back to you on that over the weekend. For now though you can savour the moment someone blurts out the "Januzaj is the best young playmaker in the Premier League" in your presence as Sterling is ahead of him in every metric you would use to measure a playmakers effectiveness.... except "number of crosses per game" of course.
