Further to this mornings article about Mesut Ozil, I thought I would run some figures.

A lot of people moan that Ozil does not do enough, and it got me thinking. In terms of goals and assists, how does Mesut Ozil compare to other Premier League number 10’s. So I did a little comparison with Ozil and players who perform a similar role to him (ie the likes of Eden Hazard and Alexis Sanchez were excluded as they are very different players).

I came up with a list of 9 players, including Ozil, that you would probably see as similar players. I am sure at this point some will criticise me, both for excluding certain players and including certain players. I do not really care. If you want to add any players, do your own research, and add the players stats in the figures.

My 9 Number 10’s are:

Cesc Fabregas
Coutinho
Cristian Erickson
David Silva
Dele Alli
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Juan Mata
Kevin de Bruyne
Mesut Ozil

I have used Premier League statistics at their current club only.

An argument about Ozil is that he does not score enough. He is 6^th on the list, so it is a justifiable argument, but I do not hear people moaning that Cesc, Mkhitaryan or David Silva do not score enough. And he is not too much behind Kevin de Bruyne. Even Cristian Erickson, a player known for being a goal scoring midfielder, scores his goals exactly one game quicker than Ozil.

To put that into perspective, based on their ratios, Erickson would score 8 goals a season (if he played 38 games), whilst Ozil would score 7. Dele Alli’s games to goals is terrific.

Bit of a surprise that Ozil did not top this one, as he is known as an assist king. I was also surprised about how far ahead Kevin de Bruyne is from the rest.

Two of the 3 above Ozil for assists are below him for goals. In fact, bar Henrikh Mkhitaryan, there is a clear correlation on the list, the more goals you score, the less assists you make, and vice versa. Someone like Coutinho scores a lot, but does not provide too much. He always takes the shot. Whilst someone like Fabregas always makes the pass rather than the shot.

It is perhaps therefore import to combine the two. Goals and assists.

Kevin de Bruyne is clearly the most effective Number 10 around at the moment. He scores goals and gets assists. He is an awesome player. He cost £59.7million.

Thinking out loud here, de Bruyne is 25% more effective than Mesut Ozil when it comes to goals and assists, and he cost 25% more. You get for what you pay for I guess.

I was surprised to see the two Tottenham players, Erickson and Alli, 2^nd and third on the list. Both players also cost a lot less than every other player on the list. Have to wonder how long they will stay at Spurs for, winning nothing.

4^th on the list is Mesut Ozil. He averages a goal or an assist every 2 games.

Ozil is more effective than the likes of David Silva, Cesc Fabregas, Coutinho and Juan Mata. Often labelled as a waste of money, that he has been a £42.5m flop, what about these players?

Barcelona were willing to spend £100m on Coutinho, yet Ozil outperforms him. Where is the criticism for these players?

So before you get on your high horse and moan about what he delivers and his cost, understand that he performs better than a lot of players, who cost a similar amount. Everything is relative.

As a final thought, if I asked you, who would you prefer: Ozil, Cesc, Silva or Coutinho, I bet Ozil would come bottom, yet he out performs all of these. Time for a poll:

Keenos

Follow @KeenosAFC