Liverpool vs Manchester United: Who Has The Better Right Back? (Stats)

The transfer market has been huge and Liverpool and Manchester United are the two English clubs which are making the most of the summer dealings. Both the clubs have made some major reinforcements in their squad after adding some absolute talents for the coming season. The one major area where both the teams have made changes is the right back spot. While Liverpool have signed Southampton and English full back Nathaniel Clyne while Manchester United have gone for Torino and Italy international Matteo Darmian. Today we analyze which signing would have a more immense impact.

Liverpool signed a 24-year old English player who had an amazing season and was just short of being named in the Team of the year for a meagre £12.5m and United signed a rather unknown and unheard player for the same price from Serie A mid-table club Torino. Liverpool pulled off this comparison with ease as Clyne had an amazing season and Darmian was just above average to suffice.

Talking about attacking duties, Clyne has played as a right back and has supported a few attacks but Darmian on the other hand has been pretty amazing as he can occupy the roles of a right back, left back, left midfield and also a centre back whenever called for. Darmian has assisted once and scored twice, his key passing have been incisive and he boasts of 38 key passes for the previous season. Meanwhile, Clyne again scored two times for the South coast club and contributed with 22 key passes last time around.

Moving onto the defensive work rate, Clyne has been more rigid at the back and had formed amazing partnership with fellow English compatriot Ryan Bertrand last season. Clyne has won 74 tackles and lost 85 tackles while Darmian has won 61 tackles and lost 64 of them. Apart from tackles Clyne has a better take on ratio of 60% and Darmian’s take on ratio ranges at around 48%. Clyne also has committed a fewer number of fouls that is 19 as compared to Darmian’s 29.

Clyne has intercepted some runs really well and has intercepted 63 times compared to Darmian’s 44 interceptions. Darmian has been booked twice with yellow last season and Clyne with 4 yellows. Another major defensive trait Clyne has shown is blocking, he has blocked a total of 6 times and Darmian has done the same for four times.

Conclusion:

Liverpool have surely had an edge to sign Clyne, it was believed that United were also interested in signing Clyne however, Liverpool jumped the queue to land the English full-back in their ranks. Clyne has been an experienced Premier League player and Liverpool would expect Clyne to deliver from the word go. While Darmian would take a bit more time to settle.