This season has been an absolute grind for Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta’s side have had to deal with injury after injury, dubious decisions and an attack that has, at times, felt frustratingly profligate.
However, while they are out of both domestic cups and a distant second in the Premier League, there have been some positives from the campaign thus far.
A number of players have really stepped up this year, including one who has seen his valuation explode since making his debut for the club.
Arsenal’s top performers this season
When it comes to Arsenal’s best players this season, one name immediately jumps to mind: Bukayo Saka.
The Englishman might’ve been out of action since late December, but he was so unbelievably effective before suffering from his hamstring injury that he remains the club’s most effective attacker, even though his teammates have had almost two months to catch up.
In all, the Gunners’ “legend in the making,” as talent scout Jacek Kulig dubbed him, has an unreal tally of nine goals and 13 assists to his name in just 24 appearances, totalling 1828 minutes this season, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.09 games, or every 83.09 minutes – talk about world-class.
|
Saka’s 24/25 |
|
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
24 |
|
Minutes |
1828′ |
|
Goals |
9 |
|
Assists |
13 |
|
Goal Involvements per Match |
0.91 |
|
Minutes per Goal Involvement |
83.09′ |
Moving from front to back, another starter who has been having a sensational season is Gabriel Magalhães.
Often playing the supporting role to William Saliba, the Brazilian titan has received far more plaudits this year, and for good reason, as once again, he’s helped create the best defence in the league and, on top of that, has become an even more potent attacking threat.
In 35 appearances, totalling 2944 minutes, the 27-year-old monster has scored five goals and provided one assist, which comes out to a sensational average – for a centre-back – of a goal involvement every 5.83 games, or every 490.66 minutes.
However, there is another star who has been playing in the backline this season and, within the context of their career, has been even more impressive and has seen their valuation explode.
The Arsenal star whose valuation has soared
The backline has arguably been Arsenal’s biggest strength this season, with Gabriel, Saliba, Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori and David Raya all playing their part in making the team a nightmare for opposition attackers to play against.
Still, the player in question is someone who has joined that group despite supposedly not even being a natural defender.
Myles Lewis-Skelly spent much of his time in the academy playing in midfield roles, but due to some experience playing at left-back, he was put into the first team when Calafiori was out, and since then, he nor the manager have looked back.
For example, despite only turning 18 in September, the incredibly gifted teen has already made 21 appearances for the first team – 13 of which have been starts – in which he scored a sensational goal against Manchester City and fully established himself as a serious option off the left alongside Calafiori, who cost £42m only seven months ago.
The Islington-born phenom, whom podcaster Will Balsam dubbed a “different beast”, demonstrated how special a player he really is once again on Saturday when he managed to make a vital interception in the second half that prevented Jordan Ayew from scoring what would have been an easy tap-in.
On top of passing the eye test with flying colours, the 5 foot 10 ace has also got some seriously impressive underlying numbers.
For example, FBref places him in the top 1% of full-backs across Europe’s top five leagues for pass completion, the top 7% for successful take-ons, the top 10% for non-penalty goals and more, all per 90.
Unsurprisingly, such a rapid ascent from youth player to key member of the first team has also seen the teenager’s valuation soar.
According to Football Transfers, he was worth just €1.1m in June, which is about £900k, and is now worth up to €17.3m, which is about £14.3m, or a staggering increase of 1488% in the space of eight months.
Ultimately, that’s an enormous increase, especially for a player so young, but with how well Lewis-Skelly has adapted to first-team football in such a short space of time, it’s hard to dispute it.
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