Patrick Rees
Xhaka (Arsenal) vs Matic (Chelsea) vs Pogba (Manchester United)
Some great transfer deals have taken place this time around in the history of the sport. The arrival of some magnificent managers like Antonio Conte and Pep Guardiola has set the level of the Premier League up high and to achieve that, the clubs are trying everything they can to challenge for the top honours.
Ironically it was Arsenal who kicked off the transfer window as they confirmed the arrival of the highly rated Swiss international Granit Xhaka and the fans then had a huge expectation on their manager, but Wenger had other plans. He then decided to stay with his current squad and Granit Xhaka remained the only top signing for the Gunners.
Then we have Antonio Conte at Chelsea, who is looking to reshape the squad from the origin. The Stamford Bridge outfit had one horrible season last time out, but now with an Italian mastermind at their support, good things are supposed to happen. The manager has remained calm in terms of transfers as he has only signed two players, namely Michy Batshuayi from Marseille and N’Golo Kante from Leicester City and apart from that, the manager has decided to work with the current employees amongst those, one is Nemanja Matic, who had grisly season last time out and was also rumoured to leave, but the manager has decided to include the Serbian into his plans.
Then we have the red half of Manchester, Manchester United, who have been doing some atrocious business in the market from the past couple of seasons. The Devils started their new campaign by signing Jose Mourinho, who later bought the players like Bailly, Ibrahimovic, Mkhitaryan and after so much of speculation, Paul Pogba arrived for a world record fee.
All the teams have some tactical magicians at their sides, but who amongst all had a better season? Let’s find out.
Starting from the goals, because those wins you the games, Paul Pogba had a far better stat than the other two. The Frenchman scored 8 goals in Serie A last term, while the Chelsea man netted two and the former Monchengladbach man scored three. Even in terms of assists, Pogba easily outnumbers his opponents as he bagged 12 assists last term, while Matic had two and Xhaka had one.
According to the comparison from Squawka, Paul Pogba had the overall attacking score of 28.14 (per 90 minutes), while his counterparts; Xhaka and Matic had 11.29 and 12.39 respectively. Well, this can be explained as both Xhaka and Matic played a more defensive role than Pogba last term. So when talking about the defensive skills per ninety minutes, the Chelsea man comes out as a winner as he was awarded a score of 7.37, while the current Arsenal man had 6.81 and the Frenchman was nowhere near them.
Talking about the overall season, it is the Frenchman Paul Pobga who won more defensive duels that his counterparts. Pogba won 51% of his average duels, while Xhaka and Matic won 49% and 47% respectively.
Statistically speaking; Pogba had a much much better season than the two heavyweights and hence, is surely a great signing for the club. Many have argued over his price, but should not deny the fact that he is now a long-term solution for the club and who knows, he might become the next Paul Scholes for the Red Devils.
