Europe's elite progressive passers revealed and De Bruyne isn't among them


Scouring the stats from the season so far, last week we revealed that of all Premier League midfielders, Cheikhou Kouyate made the highest proportion of his total passes forwards (42 per cent), while Georginio Wijnaldum made the lowest (19.4 per cent). The Liverpool star, however, ranks third of all Premier League midfielders in terms of overall pass accuracy (90.9 per cent), while Kouyate is rock bottom (74.1 per cent).

The two players perhaps perfectly encapsulate the theory that forward passes come at a greater risk in terms of losing possession. Playing it safe will yield greater reward in terms of overall pass accuracy, but it got us thinking, who are the best midfielders when it comes to progressive passing? That is, players who exceed the average pass accuracy but also the average proportion of passes played forwards?

To find out we collated the data for the 101 players to have started ten or more league matches from either defensive or central midfield and averaged at least 50 pass attempts per game. Only statistics from said starts were considered in the study.

 

 

There are, of course, certain caveats to consider. Notably the role a midfielder plays within a teams system, the playing system itself and how deep a player tends to operate on the pitch. The further towards the opposition goal an individual plays, one could reasonably expect that said player would make a lower percentage of forward passes.

However, the numbers give a strong indication as to those that look to play probing passes more often and how that impacts their overall accuracy. Indeed, of the 101 players analysed, only 13 placed above the averages of the entire group for both overall pass accuracy (86.3 per cent) and percentage of passes played forward (28.6 per cent).

Even the majority of that select grouping fit relatively closely along the trendline, which proves that in general, the less frequently a player passes forwards, the more accurate they are with their passing. However, there are a handful of names that emerge as noticeable outliers to that general trend, and some big stars among them.

Let's start with the extremes of either passing parameter analysed.

Of all 101 players, Real Sociedad's Mikel Merino has the lowest overall pass accuracy (76.9 per cent) but fits almost exactly to the trendline given that a high proportion of his passes are played forwards (37.3 per cent). At the opposite end of the accuracy scale, Borussia Dortmund's Axel Witsel boasts a remarkable 94 per cent pass accuracy but ranks second to last of those analysed in forward pass proportion (19.9 per cent).

When it comes to the progressiveness of each player's passing, Toulouse's Ibrahim Sangare looks to pass forwards most often (41.8 per cent), though his admittedly meagre 78.7 per cent pass accuracy still places him high above the trendline. The opposite can be said of Junvetus' Adrien Rabiot, who has passed forwards the least often (16.5 per cent of the time) by a distance. He has an excellent 91.9 per cent pass accuracy but that doesn't offset the reservedness of his passing, falling well below the trendline.

Meanwhile, there are some notable names from the Premier League worth touching upon. Wolves' Ruben Neves is renowned for the ambition and range of his passing and while the young Portuguese does pass forwards more often than most here (31.2 per cent of the time), his accuracy is disproportionately low regardless (78.6 per cent).

Even more surprisingly, Kevin De Bruyne is among a handful of players whose figures for both accuracy - a modest 82.1 per cent - and more surprisingly progressiveness - passing forwards 27.4 per cent of the time - both fall below the averages. There is no question that the Belgian can pick passes and crosses that very few others can, but he does concede possession often for a player whose overall progressiveness in his passing is relatively modest.

De Bruyne, however, does play higher up the pitch than most in this study, while the likes of Premier League counterparts Jorginho and Harry Winks sit far deeper. As such they unsurprisingly pass forwards more frequently, but both still deserve praise for the accuracy of said attempts.

Indeed, both players surpass the averages here for both accuracy and progressiveness, with Jorginho passing forwards more often (29.7 per cent to 28.6 per cent), but Winks with greater accuracy (89.7 per cent to 87.9 per cent).

Meanwhile, two of Europe's renowned pass masters also emerge positively here, with Toni Kroos and Marco Verratti indisputably superb distributors of the ball. The German boasts a supreme 93.6 per cent accuracy while passing forwards a respectable 26.2 per cent of the time for that figure. Verratti is even more impressive, only marginally sitting below the average in terms of proportion of forward passes (28.5 per cent) and doing so with an outstanding 92.4 per cent overall accuracy.

 

Europe's elite progressive passers revealed and De Bruyne isn't among them

 

However, there are three abundantly clear outliers in this whole study, the first of which is extremely poor.

Strasbourg's Dimitri Lienard doesn't appear to have an overly poor pass accuracy on the face of it at 83.5 per cen,t but given he only passes forwards 21.1 per cent of the time, it's shone in a very negative light. For context, the 32-year-old is sandwiched between two players in terms of pass progressiveness down in 96th in the form of Barcelona's Arthur and Manchester City's Rodri. Both boast a pass accuracy well in excess of 90 per cent by comparison.

 
On the opposite end of the scale of effectiveness as it were, Juventus' Miralem Pjanic and Marseille youngster Maxime Lopez are nothing short of exceptional when it comes to passing.

Pjanic boasts a near 90 per cent accuracy despite passing forwards almost 34 per cent of the time. His pass accuracy isn't far behind that of aforementioned teammate Rabiot, but the Bosnian looks to play forwards more than twice as frequently as the young Frenchman. He passes progressively slightly more often, proportionately, than Saul Niguez yet is more than ten per cent more accurate with his passes in general.

Lopez, meanwhile, ranks as highly as eighth of all 101 midfielders analysed here in terms of progressiveness, passing forwards 35.5 per cent of the time. The 22-year-old has done so whilst averaging a superb 89.8 per cent pass accuracy, which is more than six per cent higher than any of the seven players to have passed forwards more often.

His figures also contrast to those of a fellow teammate in the study in Valentin Rongier, who has passed forwards just 22.7 per cent of the time yet still been less accurate (86.9 per cent) than Lopez.

In summary, the study proves that progressiveness of passing and overall accuracy do impact drastically upon one another. However, there are a select few who disprove the rule, and as far as Pjanic and Lopez are concerned, they can undoubtedly be considered the elite progressive passers in Europe this season.

Europe's elite progressive passers revealed and De Bruyne isn't among them