Four Arsenal defenders have now been ranked higher than Liverpool superstar Virgil van Dijk by a football data analysis process.
The numbers suggest that Arsenal stars William Saliba, Ben White, Oleksandr Zinchenko, and Gabriel Magalhaes are all better players than Virgil van Dijk.
The Liverpool man is undoubtedly an elite-level centre-back. He was once against excellent for the Reds as they won the EFL Cup against Chelsea on Sunday. The Dutch defender popped up with the winning goal whilst wearing the captain’s armband at Wembley Stadium.
The Arsenal defensive unit has been in a class of its own in recent weeks, though. Saliba, Gabriel, and White have all been hugely important to the Gunners’ solidity. Gabriel was recently named the most underrated Arsenal player and credited with making Saliba better. Meanwhile, White has excelled whilst taking on a new tactical role.
That being said, popular opinion likely wouldn’t have it that any one of this Arsenal quartet ought to be considered significantly better than van Dijk.
However, according to Football Transfers, who have developed a player analysis model in partnership with SciSports, which calculates “hundreds” of data points, van Dijk is the 30th best defender in world football.
Oleksandr Zinchenko ranked above Virgil van Dijk
Inter ace Alessandro Bastoni tops this table of the best defenders in the world. Arsenal are the only club who can boast having four players named in the top ten. Saliba comes in at fifth, followed by White and Zinchenko, who take sixth and seventh place, respectively. Gabriel then rounds out the top ten.
Whilst White, Saliba, and Gabriel are all undeniably excellent defenders, Zinchnko has previously been highlighted as a liability at the back for Arsenal. The Ukrainian excels on the ball, but is prone to lapses in concentration as a full-back and struggles in one-on-one situations. His inclusion above van Dijk in this list is the most surprising, and highlights the flaws in this data model.
Statistics and data can be of great use in football analysis, but in isolation they cannot give a full picture of a player. There are less measurable and quantifiable aspects of the game which are also of huge importance such as focus, determination, and composure, to name but a few.
Zinchenko is not a better defender than van Dijk. However, the fact that his data points clearly stack up so well does highlight the quality that he brings to Mikel Arteta‘s squad, to at least some extent.
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