Frenkie de Jong masters Barça. And the numbers bear that out. All of the Barça team’s game goes through his shoes, with an influence that has only grown over the years.
If Frenkies was brilliant last season, this one promises to be the definitive lead. Three days in which he even played a lot of minutes as a central defender against Cádiz already allow us to assess his decisive role. Especially in one particular aspect, that of passes.
94 percent effective
In 270 minutes of play, the Dutchman gave his teammates a total of 336 passes, which means he touches the ball more than once a minute on average. Of these, 316 have been completed, so the success rate is still very high: neither more nor less than 94 percent.
The previous good passes, which amount to over 100 per game, can be divided into: 309 short, 7 long and 2 through the hole. Many are used for security, to keep control of the ball, but also those that give the teammate a clear advantage and trigger dangerous actions are increasing.
Its impact on the game is such that it leads LaLiga EA Sports’ standings by a wide margin in this segment. So far that the runner-up is already very far in the classification. And it’s a teammate, Jules Koundé, who provides the irrefutable proof of Barça’s dominance in games.
The France centre-back has completed 233 out of 255 attempted passes. At 91 percent, its efficiency is also high, albeit slightly lower than that of Frenkie de Jong.
Gundogan, in the top ten
Third place goes to UD Las Palmas midfielder Kirian Rodríguez with 200 successful passes out of a total of 226. It’s a pleasure to see him play and with that impact after coming out of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It is striking that the Gran Canaria team is coached by Javier García Pimienta, who comes from the purest Barça school.
Along with Frenkie and Kounde, another Barcelona player is in the top ten. This is Germany’s Ilkay Gundogan, who is seventh on the list with 180 completed passes out of 200 tested.