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Thanks to the plethora of analytical tools available these days, it’s not unnatural to give in to the temptation of defining football by numbers.
Goals, assists, recoveries, and tackles, each one is an important metric, but they cannot give us the complete picture, not even close.
Analyzing a player and his impact just by numbers alone is a futile exercise, as many football stars tend to defy them every single week.
Today, we will take a look at five world-class footballers whose contributions go far beyond what the statistical companies suggest.
Here are five footballers whose impact cannot be adjudged by numbers:
#5 Rodri - Manchester City
Having risen through Villarreal’s youth academy, Rodri thrived for the Yellow Submarine for two great seasons between 2016 and 2018. Atletico Madrid returned for their former academy star in 2018 and signed him for a €20million fee.
Another great season later, Rodri got on a plane to Manchester and was presented at the Etihad Stadium.
The Spaniard has been integral to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City team since his €62.7million move from Atletico Madrid. Operating as a defensive midfielder, he helps maintain the shape of his team, switches play to the flanks, and carries the ball forward during counter-attacks.
His work rate is also one of the best in the league, which is a prerequisite for a player belonging to such a high-pressing team.
#4 Marco Verratti - Paris Saint-Germain
Ligue 1 outfit Paris Saint-Germain are arguably the most ambitious football club in the world right now. Having dominated the domestic scene over the last decade, they are determined to bring home European glory by winning the Champions League.
In Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi, PSG have the most fearsome strikeforce in the world. However, it is their diminutive central midfielder Marco Verratti who might be the most important piece of the puzzle.
The Italian international does not score and assist regularly or produce game-changing trickery, and he surely isn’t the most intimidating player out there.
Yet, without him, PSG look frail in the middle of the park, always struggling to string passes together. In Verratti, the Parisiens have an immaculate passer, an exceptional ball carrier, and a press-resistant pressing machine.
In the first leg of PSG’s Champions League Round of 16 clash with Real Madrid,
Verratti was one of the stars of the show. Mbappe’s match-winning goal made all the headlines, of course, but the Italy international was integral to neutralizing Los Blancos’ coveted midfield.
#3 Mateo Kovacic – Chelsea
From being a fringe player at Real Madrid to establishing himself as an indispensable star for Chelsea, Mateo Kovacic has surely come a long way.
Having won three Champions League titles with Los Blancos, the Croat first signed for Chelsea on loan in 2018. He produced scintillating football in his debut season at Stamford Bridge, which compelled the Blues to make his transfer permanent in 2019.
Since 2018, Kovacic has played 170 games for the west London outfit, scoring only four times. The numbers look mediocre even for a defender, let alone a central midfielder. Yet, Chelsea fans cannot seem to have enough of their midfield maestro.
Kovacic’s game is not about goals and assists. It is about connecting midfield with attack. He spends his time closing down channels, opening up new ones, and carrying the ball from midfield to attack.
Without him, the Blues have a hard time dominating the midfield and struggle to create clear-cut goalscoring opportunities.
#2 Toni Kroos – Real Madrid
Arguably the most consistent player on our list today, Toni Kroos is the unchallenged metronome of Real Madrid. While Luka Modric acts as a box-to-box midfielder, Kroos varies the team's tempo, making sure the opposition do not get the opportunity to dominate proceedings.
Nicknamed “The Sniper,” Kroos is an immaculate passer of the ball. Even on a bad day, he tends to attain 90 percent passing accuracy, finding his teammates with unimaginable ease.
While many criticize the German for not being adventurous enough in the final third, we believe their expectations are misguided.
For the 2014 World Cup winner, it has never been about eye-catching football, it has always been about taking an efficient and grounded approach.
Kroos has always taken comfort in simplicity, and the five-time Champions League winner has been aptly rewarded for it.
#1 Roberto Firmino – Liverpool
Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino has often been criticized for not scoring enough.
Since his €41million switch to Anfield from Hoffenheim in 2015, the Brazilian has scored 95 times in 316 games, which is hardly a satisfactory return for a striker. However, as always, there’s more to the story than meets the eye.
At Liverpool, Firmino has rarely been the primary goal-getter. Yes, he tends to take up a central role, but Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah have easily been more trigger-happy than the Brazil international.
The forward has put his goalscoring on the back burner, focusing on linking up, drawing defenders away, and bringing the wingers into play.
Of course, this selfless approach does not always work, especially when the wingers are heavily marked. To solve the conundrum, Liverpool have brought in Diogo Jota, who is the definition of a one-track-minded centre-forward.
Firmino may not feature as regularly as in his early days at Liverpool anymore, but he remains an integral part of Klopp’s well-oiled title-challenging machine.
