Comparing Gini Wijnaldum’s 2021-22 stats to Arsenal’s current midfielders
Georginio Wijnaldum is reportedly keen to return to the Premier League after just half a season with Ligue 1 leaders PSG, and Arsenal have been tipped to be his destination.
FourFourTwo suggest that Arsenal will look to bring Wijnaldum in on a loan deal to the end of the season as they look to bolster their midfield with Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny away at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The Dutchman is said to be unhappy with his role in Mauricio Pochettino’s squad, having regularly been used as a substitute. He started just half of their Champions League group stage games, scoring twice in an important 3-2 win over RB Leipzig, and has started fewer than half of their Ligue 1 matches in 2021-22.
A Champions League and Premier League winner at Liverpool, Wijnaldum would follow in the footsteps of Marc Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp in terms of classy Dutch operators to turn out for the Gunners.
Arsenal also have form for a January loan deal, having brought in Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid last January, as well as the likes of Denis Suarez, Pablo Mari and Denis Suarez before him.
But how would the 31-year-old compare to the options at Mikel Arteta’s disposal?
We haven’t included Elneny due to lack of minutes, but we’ve compared Wijnaldum’s Ligue 1 stats in 2021-22 to the corresponding output of Arsenal’s centre-mid options Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Granit Xhaka.
Goals
Martin Odegaard – 4
Thomas Partey – 1
Georginio Wijnaldum – 1
Albert Sambi Lokonga – 0
Granit Xhaka – 0
The accuracy from Martin Odegaard 🎯pic.twitter.com/63PANJst0K
— GOAL (@goal) September 19, 2021
Assists
Martin Odegaard – 3
Georginio Wijnaldum – 1
Granit Xhaka – 1
Thomas Partey – 0
Albert Sambi Lokonga – 0
Minutes per goal or assist
Martin Odegaard – 174
Georginio Wijnaldum – 425
Granit Xhaka – 828
Thomas Partey – 1328
Albert Sambi Lokonga – N/A
Chances created per 90 minutes
Martin Odegaard – 2.3
Albert Sambi Lokonga – 1.3
Granit Xhaka – 0.9
Thomas Partey – 0.6
Georginio Wijnaldum – 0.5
Successful dribbles per 90 minutes (success rate)
Thomas Partey – 1.4 (82%)
Georginio Wijnaldum – 0.8 (50%)
Martin Odegaard – 0.6 (54%)
Granit Xhaka – 0.4 (44%)
Albert Sambi Lokonga – 0.3 (100%)
Passes per 90 minutes (passing accuracy)
Albert Sambi Lokonga – 60.8 (87.5%)
Granit Xhaka – 55.9 (85.8%)
Thomas Partey – 52.2 (85.3%)
Martin Odegaard – 49.9 (83.2%)
Georginio Wijnaldum – 41.7 (90.1%)
Successful tackles per 90 minutes
Albert Sambi Lokonga – 2.1
Granit Xhaka – 1.8
Thomas Partey – 1.7
Martin Odegaard – 1.4
Georginio Wijnaldum – 1.1
Shots per 90 minutes (inside penalty area)
Thomas Partey – 1.8 (0.3)
Georginio Wijnaldum – 1.6 (1.3)
Albert Sambi Lokonga – 1.6 (0)
Martin Odegaard – 1.4 (0.4)
Granit Xhaka – 0.9 (0.4)
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