Study Reveals Premier League Is Home to the Best Dribblers in Europe's Top 5 Leagues
The latest study from the CIES Football Observatory has revealed that the Premier League is home to most of the best dribblers in Europe's top five leagues (England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France) since the start of the 2017/18 season.
Using the number of successful dribbles per 90 minutes and percentage of successful dribbles, CIES have calculated an index that takes into account both quality and quantity.
As many of five of the 10 best dribblers in Europe this season play for Premier League clubs, with Chelsea superstar Eden Hazard statistically the best with the ball at his feet.
The Belgian leads Neymar (94) with an index score of 100, as despite completing fewer dribbles than the Paris Saint-Germain forward, he is more successful. Hazard has completed 75% of dribbles so far this season, compared to just 62% from Neymar.
Barcelona icon Lionel Messi (70) is third in the rankings, with Tottenham midfield engine Mousa Dembele tied with Lyon talent Tanguy Ndombele in fourth (both 56). Dembele's successful dribbles percentage of 88% is the highest in any of the leagues in question.
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West Ham wing-back Athur Masuaku (53) and Southampton pair Sofiane Boufal (51) and Mario Lemina (49) all feature in the top 10, with Atalanta's Papu Gomez (55) and Lyon forward Nabil Fekir (49) also among Europe's very best dribblers this season.
(You may also be interested in '6 Pairs of Englishmen Who Faced Each Other on the Pitch in One of Europe's Top Leagues')
After Messi, the best dribblers from La Liga are in joint 16th place. That is Real Madrid maestro Isco and on-loan Valencia winger Goncalo Guedes, both with an index score of 43.
Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba (46) is known as a strong ball carrier and appears joint 12th on the list alongside Watford's Peruvian star Andre Carillo.
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Crystal Palace duo Wilfried Zaha and Ruben Loftus-Cheek (both 42), are join 19th in the dribbling standings alongside Germany's Confederations Cup winning captain Julian Draxler and soon-to-be new £48m Liverpool signing Naby Keita.
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the likes of Leroy Sane (39, =29th), Alexis Sanchez (38, =33rd), and Mohamed Salah (35, =43rd), don't appear until further down the list.
The 25 Most Successful Dribblers in Europe's Top 5 Leagues (2017/18):
Player (Club) | Successful Dribbles/90 | Success Rate | Index |
Eden Hazard (Chelsea) | 6.4 | 75% | 100 |
Neymar (PSG) | 7.3 | 62% | 94 |
Lionel Messi (Barcelona) | 5.5 | 62% | 70 |
Tanguy Ndombele (Lyon) | 3.7 | 74% | 56 |
Mousa Dembele (Tottenham) | 3.0 | 88% | 56 |
Papu Gomez (Atalanta) | 3.7 | 71% | 55 |
Athur Masuaku (West Ham) | 4.3 | 59% | 53 |
Sofiane Boufal (Southampton) | 4.6 | 53% | 51 |
Mario Lemina (Southampton) | 3.0 | 79% | 49 |
Nabil Fekir (Lyon) | 3.4 | 70% | 49 |
Allan Saint-Maxim (Nice) | 4.1 | 55% | 47 |
Andre Carillo (Watford) | 3.4 | 65% | 46 |
Paul Pogba (Man Utd) | 3.0 | 73% | 46 |
Florian Thauvin (Marseille) | 3.4 | 64% | 45 |
Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich) | 4.2 | 50% | 44 |
Isco (Real Madrid) | 3.1 | 68% | 43 |
Luiz Araujo (Lille) | 3.1 | 67% | 43 |
Goncalo Guedes (Valencia) | 3.4 | 62% | 43 |
Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace) | 4.1 | 49% | 42 |
Naby Keita (RB Leipzig) | 3.7 | 55% | 42 |
Houssem Aouar (Lyon) | 3.1 | 65% | 42 |
Julian Draxler (Germany) | 2.6 | 77% | 42 |
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Crystal Palace) | 3.2 | 62% | 42 |
Ever Banega (Sevilla) | 3.1 | 63% | 41 |
Kylian Mbappe (PSG) | 3.7 | 53% | 41 |
