You think you know who’ll be the No.1? Think again…
As the footballing season across Europe’s top five leagues is now well underway, we’ve seen more than enough to start making some conclusions. Even though modern football fans like to moan about the game becoming too big of a business, a big-money industry focused only on profit, we rarely skip a chance to comment on the biggest transfer deals, transfer fees, player wages, etc. A big price tag usually carries big pressure and responsibility — and the expectations rise from fans, pundits, and team directors alike.
A segment of this week’s CBS Sports Golazo Network show Numbers Don’t Lie was dedicated exactly to that: players who’ve so far shown to be able to live up to the expectations, and those who didn’t, including a few surprises on both ends.
The dynamic duo of JayDee Dyer and Nico Cantor took us through a list of five deals that either went under the radar, or weren’t deemed to be as successful as they turned out to be when they happened.
Nico focused on the positives, and, without trying to give away too much, there were a few interesting takes. Rather than just focusing on big names and instant impact, Nico took a few more things into consideration: previous clubs, transfer fees, etc. And he’s done a pretty decent job, to be fair, because once we compared his picks with the five highest-rated players that changed clubs according to Sofascore, two of his picks are backed by data as well.
Tune in to watch the segment to find out exactly who we’re talking about, and how they rate.
The list nobody wants to be on
On the other hand, JayDee focused on the players that so far haven’t been able to live up to the hype or fulfil the expectations in their new environment. Somewhat of a football version of the ‘Golden Raspberry’, the list of the biggest summer flops is one no player ever wants to see himself on.
Good news is that it’s still very early in the season, and even better is the fact that it’s definitely too soon to say anything of substance. (A moment of silence for the Spanish press that chose Luka Modrić as Real Madrid’s worst signing of 2012.)
The difference here, however, is that Sofascore’s choices are backed by data, and we got to see how they compare to JayDee’s eye-test. JayDee, like Nico, took different things into consideration, level in the previous team, price tag, expected impact, context distant to data.
However, his success was similar to Nico’s, with two players on his list actually ending up on the lowest-rated list. He, for some reason, opened fire a bit too much on Liverpool, placing two of their players on the list. Sofascore’s list features only one Anfield newcomer, but interestingly, it’s neither of the players JayDee listed.
Think you know who it is?
Make your own list and see how many you get right.