At the head of the other rankings are Dejan Lovren (Liverpool) for rigour, Walter Gargano (Napoli) for recovery, Xabi Alonso (Bayern Munich) for distribution, Karim Bellarabi (Bayer Leverkusen) for take on and Diego Costa (Chelsea) for shooting.
The following big-5 league rookies are to be found in the top 12 positions for five out of the six areas of play taken into account:
Rigour
- Michael Keane (Burnley)
- Sergi Gómez (Celta de Vigo)
- Emiliano Velázquez (Getafe)
- Jin-Su Kim (Hoffenheim)
- Nicolás Otamendi (Valencia)
- Giancarlo González (Palermo)
- Marcos Rojo (Manchester United)
Recovery
- Wendell Nascimento (Bayer Leverkusen)
- Yeltsin Tejeda (Evian)
- Daley Blind (Manchester United)
Take on
- Sadio Mané (Southampton)
- Lucas Vázquez (Espanyol)
Chance creation
- Valentin Stocker (Hertha Berlin)
- Dušan Tadi? (Southampton)
Shooting
- Luciano Vietto (Villarreal)
- Federico Piovaccari (Eibar)
- Diafra Sakho (West Ham)
Please refer to this paper if you want to know more about the exclusive approach of the CIES Football Observatory for sustainable success.
