Issue number 313 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 players from the 10 best European leagues who won the highest percentage of aerial defensive duels since the start of the season. Chelsea’s centre-back Kurt Zouma tops the table with 26 aerial duels won out of 27 (96.3%). Berat Djimsiti (Atalanta) and Harry Maguire (Manchester United) complete the podium.

Often criticised by his own supporters, the English international Harry Maguire lost only three defensive aerial duels out of 30. With 90% of defensive aerial duels won, he has the second best ratio in the Premier League ahead of Yerry Mina (Everton), James Tarkowski (Burnley), Jonny Evans (Leicester City) and Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa).

The five youngest footballers in the top 100 are all born in the year 2000: Loïc Badé (RC Lens), Matteo Lovato (Hellas Verona), Arthur Theate (Ostende), Sven Botman (LOSC Lille) and Tommy St. Jago (Utrecht). Only players having won at least 20 defensive aerial duels were included in the rankings elaborated using the data of our partners InStat.