Wednesday 13 May 2020 16:00, UK
With the Premier League season almost upon us, Sky Sports has once again teamed up with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to take a closer look at the top transfers in the top flight and what each player's data tells us about their chances of success in England's top flight this season…
Paul Pogba
Pogba's potential has been in the spotlight all summer and while the young Frenchman is not yet the complete player, his Serie A numbers are certainly spectacular. Last season, he ranked among the top 20 in the country for goals, shots, assists, chances created, through-balls, dribbles and tackles. It's an astonishing all-round skill-set that suggests Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho will be able to turn him into anything that he wants him to become.
John Stones
Pep Guardiola is renowned for his love of centre-backs capable of building play from the back and in Stones Manchester City have recruited one of the Premier League's top passers. The former Everton man ranked 10th among players in his position for completed passes last season and only three defenders completed more dribbles. However, his clearances and tackles statistics reflect the criticism he's received for his style.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
The veteran striker arrives with a big reputation and the numbers to back it up. Ibrahimovic was the second highest scorer in Europe last season, behind only Luis Suarez, and do not be too concerned by the fact that those goals came in France.
The Swede's pedigree is long established across five different European leagues. Indeed, he has scored more goals than any Manchester United player in each of the past six seasons, dating back to his days at Barcelona.Sadio Mane
Jurgen Klopp seems to have set out to add goals from midfield this summer with Mane arriving as well as Georginio Wijnaldum. The signing from Southampton has reached double figures in the Premier League in each of the past two seasons - the only midfielder to do so - and it's not been luck. Mane gets into the positions. In fact, according to Opta, he had more clear chances to score than any midfielder last season, including Riyad Mahrez.
Granit Xhaka
The imposing Swiss midfielder arrives in the Premier League with some impressive numbers from his time in the Bundesliga with Borussia Monchengladbach. In particular, Xhaka's ability to hit accurate long passes should be a real asset in changing the pace of the Gunners' attacks. He not only hit more of them than any other outfield player in the Bundesliga last season, but he did so with a greater success rate than anyone else too. It's a real strength.
N'Golo Kante
Most agree that Kante was part of the reason why Leicester looked so special last season and Chelsea will certainly be hoping so. It's there in the numbers. He not only ranked top for both tackles and interceptions in 2015/16 but by a considerable distance - a combined total of over 100 more than all but one other Premier League player. For a Chelsea team that ranked among the bottom three for interceptions last season, it could have a transformative effect.
Michy Batshuayi
It can be difficult to be a stand-out star in France when not wearing a Paris St Germain shirt but Batshuayi managed it for Marseille in his second season at the club. Chelsea's new forward netted 17 league goals and provided nine assists for his team-mates. It's promising that those numbers were bettered by only Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Angel Di Maria in Ligue 1 - both playing for PSG. The 22-year-old Belgian is improving fast.
Georginio Wijnaldum
Wijnaldum's time at Newcastle can hardly be judged a huge success given the team's surprise relegation to the Championship, but his goalscoring record at St James' Park was extraordinary. Only Sergio Aguero and Jamie Vardy netted as many as the Dutch midfielder in Premier League home games last season. If Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp can get Wijnaldum to recreate that sort of form home and away in 2016/17 then he will be a bargain even at £25m.
Ilkay Gundogan
When Pep Guardiola was announced as Manchester City's next head coach, it was noticeable that the squad was lacking the sort of deep-lying playmaker that the Catalan is so fond of. He acted quickly to address that weakness by adding Gundogan to the squad. The Germany international was one of only five players to average more than a pass a minute in the Bundesliga last season and will be the man charged with keeping the ball moving at City.
Vincent Janssen
Only Luis Suarez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored more goals than Janssen in a major European league in 2016 and the Netherlands international will certainly provide competition for Harry Kane at Tottenham. The only other player to reach double figures with both left and right foot last season was Neymar and nobody scored more than the 22-year-old Dutchman from inside the six-yard box. Can he keep his hot streak going in the Premier League with Spurs?
Leroy Sane
Pep Guardiola likes his pass-masters but there's more to the Manchester City coach's approach than that. He's fond of dribblers too, with Bayern Munich wingers Franck Ribery and Kingsley Coman attempting the most dribbles per 90 minutes in the Bundesliga last season. At City, he's gone for the next best thing - signing the youngster who was third on that list, Leroy Sane from Schalke. The winger will add urgency to Guardiola's team in the final third.
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