WhoScored's 2011 Bundesliga Player and Young Player of the Year

With the Bundesliga now officially hibernating for the winter at the halfway mark of the 2011/12 season, WhoScored thought it best to start here for our feature rounding up the top players in each league. We will be announcing our Player of the Year for each division over the coming weeks based on performances from the first week of January to the last week of December, to crown the winners.

We take an in depth look into the top 3 players according to WhoScored ratings as well as investigating the best youth products in Germany's top-flight over the previous calendar year. All players to have played less than 20 games since the start of the year were excluded to ensure that only first team regulars made our leaderboard, so without further a do here is a rundown from 10 to 1;

10. Mats Hummels - 7.36 (DC / 23 / Borussia Dortmund); 9. Lukas Podolski - 7.39 (FW / 26 / FC Cologne); 8. Thomas Muller - 7.40 (AMR / 22 / Bayern Munich); 7. Juan Arango - 7.43 (31 / ML / Borussia MGladbach); 6. Claudio Pizarro - 7.48 (FW / 33 / Werder Bremen); 5. Mario Gotze - 7.52 (AMR / 19 / Borussia Dortmund); 4. Bastian Schweinsteiger - 7.65 (DMC / 27 / Bayern Munich) ...

3. Marco Reus - 7.74 (AMR / 22 / Borussia MGladbach)

If any were unfamiliar with the name Marco Reus prior to 2011, they shouldn't be after the year the 22-year-old has had with Borussia MGladbach. An integral figure in keeping the side in the Bundesliga by the skin of their teeth last season - finishing the campaign as the team-leader for both goals (10) and assists (8) - Reus has gone from strength to strength this term and it may only be a matter of time before he is considered as a potential starter in the national side.

The young winger is all but equally adept when starting up front and has switched between a right midfield role and a position as striker this season to devastating effect. He has already matched his goal tally of 10 from last season in just 15 games and is unlucky to have picked up a solitary assist for his troubles.

Since the start of the year, Reus has scored 12 goals and picked up 3 assists. He has registered 3.16 shots per game and an impressive 2.52 key passes per game, giving him a total of 63 chances created for teammates this season, who are somewhat to blame for his meagre assist tally for the year. As a tricky wide man he has attempted 5.52 dribbles per game but not shirked his defensive responsibility to make and exceptional 2.24 tackles and 1.76 interceptions per match.

2. Mario Gomez - 7.74 (FW / 26 / Bayern Munich)

The epitome of a goal poacher, Germany international Mario Gomez's name goes hand-in-hand with the word ‘goal’ in almost every match report in which he features right now, and many would have expected to see him at the top of our leaderboard. Since the start of the year, the 26-year-old has made 29 appearances for Bayern Munich and scored 28 goals in the process - an exceptional feat.

Perhaps more impressive is the conversion rate he possesses, scoring with 30% of his shots at goal having tried his luck 94 times over the course of the year. In comparison, third placed Reus - who Gomez pips to second with the smallest of margins - has had 75 shots this year, scoring with 15% at half the conversion rate of the Germany striker.

A figure of 1.34 key passes per game proves that Gomez's game is not solely based around his abilities in the opponents penalty box as the target man has picked up 5 assists in 2011 from a total of 39 chances created. Weighing in with over a tackle per game (1.07), Gomez also trumps his forward competitors in our top 10 (Pizarro and Podolski) and with Bayern's supply line it is hard to see him stopping scoring any time soon.

1. Franck Ribery - 7.90 (AML / 28 / Bayern Munich)

With 4 Bayern players in WhoScored's top 10, it is French winger Franck Ribery who comes out on top in terms of average ratings over 2011. In 27 appearances over the calendar, year Ribery has contributed to 26 league goals (12 goals, 14 assists) and has helped Bayern top the table once again this season with 8 goals and 6 assists.

Scoring with 21% of his 58 shots in 2011, it is the prolific nature with which he picks up assists that has impressed the most, and much of that can be attributed to the man he beat into second in this leaderboard. Registering an identical number of chances created to shots attempted (58); Ribery's key passes have been converted 24% of the time. The excellence of the figure is highlighted when compared to the aforementioned Reus, whose 63 key passes have only been converted 5% of the time at MGladbach, which is not only indicative of the quality of finishing at the respective clubs, but also proves the quality of Ribery's final ball.

Another key facet to Ribery's game is his ability to beat an opponent with consummate ease. He has completed the second most dribbles per game of any Bundesliga player since the start of the new season (4.4) and attempted a vast total of 201 dribbles over the course of the year. An 85% pass accuracy and tally of 1.22 tackles per game have helped Ribery to the title of WhoScored's Bundesliga Player of the Year for 2011!

Young, but not Pretenders

There is a plethora of young talent in Germany's top-flight, with the national side looking very healthy for the present and indeed the future ahead of next year's European Championships and beyond. In terms of players under the age of 21, one stands head and shoulders above the rest in WhoScored ratings, but here is a rundown of 5 to 1;

5. Kyriakos Papadopoulos - 6.75 (DC / 19 / Schalke 04); 4. Roberto Firmino - 7.03 (AMC / 20 / Hoffenheim); 3. Lewis Holtby - 7.06 (DMC / 21 / Schalke 04); 2. Andre Schurrle - 7.21 (AML / 21 / Bayer Leverkusen) ...

1. Mario Gotze - 7.52 (AMR / 19 / Borussia Dortmund)

It is easy to forget that Mario Gotze - already a household name among football fans all over the world - is just 19-years-old. The teenage sensation is one of the game's hottest properties right now and it isn't hard to see why. Already a member of the German national side - who along with Spain are arguably the best in the world at the moment - Gotze is and was a key player in Borussia Dortmund's somewhat surprising title winning campaign last season.

Versatile enough to play on either wing or in behind the striker, Gotze tends to line up on the right for Dortmund, and beginning the season as a mere 18-year-old, the playmaker finished as his side's chief creator with 11 assists and 6 goals for himself to boot. In terms of statistics based on performances in 2011 alone, Gotze has registered 7 goals and 9 assists in 26 appearances. Preferring to lay on chances for teammates rather than focus on personal glory - much like his competitor on the international scene, Mesut Ozil - Gotze's goal tally has come from just 1.54 shots per game this year.

When it comes to creating chances Gotze, who ranks 5th in the overall leaderboard, is only beaten in terms of key passes per game by Gladbach winger Juan Arango (2.79 to 2.65). The teenager also ranks second of our top 10 for dribbles per game behind list leader Ribery, with 6.08, and a defensive contribution of 2.12 tackles and 1.58 interceptions per game should ensure that, assuming he keeps himself grounded and his work-rate up, he is one of the world's greatest players over the next decade.