Leicester City might have lost out on the services of one of their stars from last season, N’Golo Kante, and they could be on the verge of losing out on one of their best attackers as well with Riyad Mahrez being linked with a club from London.
While most expected the Algerian to move to Chelsea, it seems that Arsenal have entered the race to sign the best player from the 2015/16 Premier League season. The Gunners would have to pay an extraordinary amount to sign the talented star but they could look across channel for another player that could do the business for them.
Julian Draxler moved to Wolfsburg at the start of the season and even though he played just 21 Bundesliga games, the German international is also being linked with a move to Arsenal. Arsene Wenger is known to like Draxler and would be putting up a bid for him but with the Premier League experience that Mahrez has, shouldn’t the Leicester man be the right choice?
We compare the two stars using stats from Squawka.com and would be looking at the per 90 minute metrics to find out just which player would be better for Arsenal.
A rising star or the Premier League king?
22-year-old Draxler is already a World Cup winner with Germany and even though he left his beloved Schalke at the start of last season, his performances for Wolfsburg weren’t too bad. The German had a pass completion percentage of 83% compared to just 74% for Mahrez.
Even the number of passes attempted by the German was greater with 39.83 compared to just 29.99 for Mahrez last season, proving that Draxler is more accurate with his passing. Of course the number of passes made by Mahrez was a little less simply because of the game played by Leicester which was more based on long balls and counter attacking play.
It is the German who again tops the list when it comes to key passes with 1.84 per 90 minutes compared to Mahrez’s 1.66 for Leicester City. The Algerian slightly shades the battle of assists with an average of 0.33 assists per 90 minutes compared to 0.30 for Draxler.
The Algerian also beats Draxler in the most important department, at least for him, which is the goal scoring department. Mahrez averages 0.50 goals per 90 minutes while Draxler comes in with 0.30. Although many suggest that Mahrez is great at dribbling, the facts show that Draxler is the more successful dribbler.
The 22-year-old German has a take on success rate of 71.25% compared to just 56.47% for the Algerian. While Mahrez might get the goals on a regular basis, it is Draxler that seems to beat him in all the other departments. Wolfsburg and Leicester do play different kinds of games but if Arsene Wenger does have to splash the cash on someone, it better be Draxler.
The German is young, talented and still has not peaked, something that Arsene Wenger can ensure will happen. Arsenal have a chance of wrapping up a deal for one of the best German players around and who would not want to have a German star in their team at the moment?
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