February 4 – Parma’s Dejan Kulusevski (pictured on loan from Juventus) tops the table of most playing time for big-5 league players born in the 2000s. The young forward has played in 95% of Parma’s games and is followed in the table by another Italian club player, midfielder Sandro Tonali (Brescia).
Defender Max Aarons (Norwich) is the leading Premier League player in the list, ranked third, and ahead of the 17-year-old French talent Eduardo Camavinga (Stade Rennais). Aarons has played in 92% of Norwich’s league fixtures and ranks higher than his more vaunted English colleague Jadon Sancho who is ranked fifth having played in 80% of Dortmund’s matches.
The data has been compiled by the CIES Football Observatory and focusses on who have played the highest percentage of domestic league minutes during current season.
The lower down the leagues the more minutes get played by players born 2000 or later, and this is where Europe’s giant clubs are looking for new talent and to develop their already contracted young players.
“Conor Gallagher (Swansea, on loan from Chelsea) heads the rankings for the second divisions of big-5 league countries. The Spanish prodigy Pedri (Las Palmas) is fourth. Born in 2002, the attacking midfielder has already signed a long-term contract for FC Barcelona. At 19th position is a player born in 2003: Jude Bellingham (Birmingham City). The English midfielder already scored four goals in the Championship,” say the report authors.
See the full report at https://football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/b5wp/2019/wp282/en/
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