The season is winding down, with only a handful of competitive matches left to play before Europe’s top sides go off on holiday for a few weeks and return in August. During the intervening period, there will be plenty of focus on the transfer market, with players capable of scoring goals no doubt coming at a particular cost.
Surprisingly, some of the game’s deadliest finishers are not always the most prolific players, and with that in mind, we have examined the attackers who have the strongest record of converting what Opta describe as ‘Big Chances’ over the course of the last season.
Although these may sound like easy opportunities, the Europe-wide average for scoring these stands only at a little above 47%.
To ensure that only relatively regular attacking players are included in this list, it has been narrowed down to players in Europe’s top five leagues who have scored at least 10 times and have had at least 10 big chances. This qualified 87 players for the study.
Here are Europe’s best finishers from 2016-17:
#5 Sadio Mane
Perhaps Liverpool’s player of the season, Sadio Mane proved to be something of a revelation at Anfield after arriving from Southampton in the summer of 2016. He was a dynamic force in Jurgen Klopp’s side, scoring 13 goals, despite missing eight matches due to a knee injury, and typified the high-intensity game that the German tries to purvey to his players.
Mane was also able to show a keen eye in front of goal, scoring 72.73% of the big chances that were fashioned for him – a statistic that put him into the top 5 players in this category.
Expect to see the influence of the 25-year-old grow and grow next term.
#4 Joshua King
Norway international Joshua King may only be 25-years-old, but he has already seen a lot in his young footballing career. He was once on the books of Manchester United but rarely threatened to make the breakthrough at Old Trafford, despite loan spells spent at Preston, Borussia Monchengladbach, Hull City and Blackburn.
He ultimately moved to Blackburn and from there he made the switch to Bournemouth in the summer of 2015. Following a relatively modest first season on the south coast, he has come good in spectacular fashion under Eddie Howe in his second campaign.
King struck a formidable 16 times last season, including 75% of his big chances.
Often playing just off the forwards, he was especially good in the second half of the season, during which 13 of his goals arrive. It bodes well for next time around.
#3 Nicolas De Preville
Lille endured a torrid season, but the performance of De Preville was one of their few bright spots. He scored 14 times in Ligue 1 overall, enjoying a particularly strong conclusion to the campaign after injuries hampered him soon after arriving last summer from relegated Reims.
De Preville did not regularly lead the line for Lille, often playing in a slightly withdrawn role in a 4-2-3-1 formation for Franck Passi’s side. Nevertheless, he got himself into good positions on a regular basis and proved Europe’s third-most effective player at scoring big chances, putting 78.57% of them in the net.
His performances will have encouraged Marcelo Bielsa, who takes charge at the Ligue 1 side in the coming weeks.
#2 Max Kruse
Werder Bremen attacker Max Kruse was in the news for all the wrong reasons last year, as he was told to kick his addiction to chocolate and hazelnut spread and even left thousands of euros in a taxi after an evening playing poker.
While his side might have had another difficult campaign in the Bundesliga, spending much of the season flirting with the relegation zone, it was his terrific burst of form at the end of the season that pushed them clear. Eleven of his 15 goals this term arrived in the last 12 weeks of the season, propelling his team into the top half of the standings.
It was not just the regularity of his scoring that was impressive – it was his sheer efficiency – he scored an astonishing 85.71% of his big chances.
#1 Keita Balde
The king of taking big chances this season might have graduated from the Barcelona academy, but he is not Lionel Messi. Instead, it is Lazio winger Keita Balde, who has found the net 16 times for the Rome side in Serie A this season, missing only one of the 11 big chances that were presented to him.
The form of the 22-year-old has seen him emerge as one of the game’s hottest properties, and after going on an astonishing run at the end of the season, scoring eight times in his last five outings, the timing could not be better for Lazio if they wish to sell the Senegal star at a high price.
When given a clear sight of goal this season, he found it on 90.91% of the time – an incredible achievement, particularly for such a young player.
And as for the rest?
Lionel Messi was 13th, having scored 65.38% of his opportunities, while rival Cristiano Ronaldo was only joint 51st, netting exactly half of his big chances, trailing club-mates Karim Benzema and Alvaro Morata in this regard. This is the same position of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who outscored everyone else in Germany this season.
Meanwhile, Premier League top scorer Harry Kane was 23rd on 62.07%. Ligue 1’s leading marksman, Edinson Cavani, was 71st on 45.71%.
